What Happened When Blaine and Kurt took the Abs Class at the NYADA Gym
by haleygirl
Summary: Blaine is feeling insecure and Kurt offers to help. Also explores Blaine and Rachel's relationship. Contains spanking.
1. Chapter 1

Blaine sniffled in Kurt's embrace, emotionally drained. He felt a little better having talked things out a bit, but still so much seemed wrong these days.

"Let's order a pizza," his fiancé murmured in his ear. "It's been a long day, neither one of us is going to feel like cooking."

"Hmph." Blaine grunted. "Thought you'd outgrown comfort food…" he muttered somewhat bitterly.

Kurt looked at Blaine somewhat reproachfully and Blaine ducked his head.

"Sorry. I don't mean to be snarky. I don't know what's wrong with me." Blaine offered meekly.

Kurt nodded. "If I was bossy the other day about dinner, I'm sorry. I really don't care what you eat, I just feel better about myself these days if I'm more thoughtful about my meals."

Blaine sighed. "You weren't wrong. I probably should be cutting back on calories; I didn't think the Freshman Fifteen was a real thing until I got here, but I guess it is," he grumped. "I'm probably not going to feel better about myself anytime soon if I'm not doing something about it."

"Okay, how about we make it a vegetarian pizza, and I'll let you make of your ridiculous zero-calorie sodas." Kurt said, earning a little smile from Blaine.

"Deal."

When they got to bed that night Blaine was feeling a little better. He snuggled up and laid his head against his fiancé's chest.

"I don't like when we fight," Blaine murmured.

"I'd rather we fight than not know what's going on in your head." Kurt commented.

"Sometimes… you don't seem to want to know." Blaine offered, hesitant.

"Hmm?" Kurt reached down and turned Blaine's face to him. "I do?" he asked concerned.

Blaine shrugged. "You said you think we talk too much," he said simply, leaning his head back down.

Kurt sighed, running his hand lazily on Blaine's back. "I did. I—I'm sorry. It isn't fair for me to call you out for keeping things inside if I'm being dismissive when you try to reach out."

Blaine smiled. "In fairness, maybe Combat class isn't the best venue for a heart to heart."

"No," Kurt agreed. He paused, trying to decide whether to bring something up. "I guess you've been struggling a lot in that class."

"That teacher hates me."

"He doesn't hate—"

"Kurt, come on, you're not blind. Every time he makes a safety speech it's basically entirely directed at me."

"You're just not used to getting criticism. In Ohio you were always Mr. Perfect Performer."

Blaine pouted. "I don't know about that. Artie had no problem criticizing me every ten minutes during West Side Story. I spent that whole show just trying to please him."

"And didn't you tell me that when you auditioned for Grease he told you that you were the Danny Zuko of his dreams?"

Blaine rolled his eyes. "I played Teen Angel in that show."

"But you wouldn't have if Artie had had his way."

"Well I think his opinion of me dropped considerably when I left that audition sobbing."

Kurt chuckled. "I still can't believe you turned down a lead role."

"I was a mess back then, you have no idea."

They were quiet for a little while.

"Everyone goes through times when they're a little bit of a mess I guess," Kurt finally offered.

Blaine swallowed, and nodded softly. He thought how normally on a Friday night with Rachel at rehearsal they would be messing around by now—and he still just… didn't feel like it. It made him feel guilty, especially knowing that Kurt had read his avoidance of intimacy as some kind of rejection of him. He just felt… heavy… lately. When he thought of the person he was in high school, he thought of someone so light and easy… _maybe I did just get things handed to me a lot back then_.

Kurt cleared his throat. "Alright, I need to talk to you."

"Hmm? I thought we were—"

"I think you need some help here. I don't like seeing you unhappy, but I'm not sure I'm really helping if I'm letting you indulge in a pity party about it."

Blaine absorbed this, rolling back on his back. "It's not like you can… fix me," he ventured, blinking away a tear dangerously close to falling. "I don't know what's wrong with me these days."

Kurt sat up on his arm. "You said you felt insecure," he pressed. "About your body?"

Blaine nodded, avoiding eye contact. "It's stupid, I tore a hole in my pants—I didn't realize how much weight I'd gained until… and it's just been hard because you just—you're in basically the best shape of your life," he said, with a shrug.

"Well that didn't happen overnight you know. I had a realization that if I'm going to be an artist I need to take better care of myself—that no one else can do that for me."  
"Makes sense."

"But if you want to, I can help. We can go grocery shopping together, I can get some vegetarian recipes from Rachel… I know you like restaurant-hopping, but you'd probably save a lot of money and calories just buying some healthy food regularly and packing your lunch every day."

"I don't suppose Cronuts qualify as healthy?"

"Rachel had me monitoring her diet for quite awhile. She wanted to be in good shape for her Broadway debut."

Blaine made a face. "Is it bad if I say that sounds unpleasant?"

Kurt leaned over and kissed him. "Of course not. I just see you're struggling—if I can help, I'm here. That's all I'm saying."

Blaine bit his lip. "I don't know if I want to be in trouble over what I happen to eat for lunch, but the idea of grocery shopping together sounds nice. And when I'm here we can try to cook healthier, experiment with some new recipes maybe?"

Kurt smiled. "I think that sounds very doable."

Blaine snuggled back into Kurt's arms. "…I saw the NYADA gym offers some classes." He said shyly.

"Like Zumba and water aerobics?" Kurt asked.

Blaine smiled. "I guess, lots of different stuff. I saw a posting outside Theatre History and had kinda thought about it."

"You think it'd help?"

"It's worth a try. I'd really like to try this Abs class the have but I was sort of intimidated because I wonder if it's like some kind of Sue Sylvester boot camp style thing and I'm just- kind of out of shape and sensitive right now, I don't know if I can take that level of abuse like I did on the Cheerios," he confessed.

Kurt laughed. "I doubt it's anything as evil as that."

"Well I figure other NYADA students will be there, people we know. If I screw up something or am not as in good shape as they are—I'd just, be embarrassed."

"Blaine, people who are in an exercise class aren't taking notes on how everyone else is doing. They're just worried about their own heart rate most of the time."

"I guess."

"Would it help if we took the class together?" Kurt offered.

"It's on Saturdays, you wouldn't be able to take morning shifts at the diner."

Kurt shrugged. "I was trying to cut back on those since our together time was more weekend centered these days anyhow."

Blaine looked at Kurt. "You'd really do that?"  
"Of course. It sounds like fun."

Blaine rolled his eyes. "This is how I know you're in ridiculously good shape. No one is supposed to think of a class like that as fun."

"It'll be fun, because we'll do it together. It'll force us to be productive on a Saturday morning and then the rest of the day we'll feel like we accomplished something out of the gate. I told you, we can run this race together if you let me."

Blaine took a breath. "Okay. At least if I know you're going, I won't be tempted to just chicken out I guess."

Kurt kissed his fiancés forehead. "No you know I would never stand for shenanigans like that."


	2. Chapter 2

The following Saturday morning, Kurt and Blaine were at the NYADA gym for the Abs class they had registered for. Looking around, Blaine was thankful no one from their stage combat class was there, but there were a couple of people he thought he recognized from that mime master class. He felt butterflies, purposely leading Kurt to the back row of people in the class. He didn't want any more of an audience than necessary, and he also figured the teacher was more likely to be critical of you if you were in the front row right in their face. _It isn't like I've never been in a gym before, what's wrong with me?_ Truth was, Blaine was pretty blindsided by just how insecure he was feeling these days. The confidence of high school was seeming farther and farther away, and he was unsure when and if he'd find it again.

"Hey everybody, I'm Amy," the trainer called from the front of the room. Blaine blinked, recognizing her from Acting for the Camera class and . "Ready for a workout?" she asked, to a roomful of cheers.

And workout it was. Blaine didn't think he had ever done so many crunches in his entire life. Sweat dripped from his forehead but he tried to keep positive. _Only_ _19 minutes left to go_ , he told himself, eyeing the clock on the side of the gym. _14 minutes left, more than half way there…_

"Alright everyone, you made it, let's do some cool down stretching for five minutes and then you're free!" Amy encouraged.

Blaine breathed an audible sigh of relief and stole a glance at Kurt who was sweating profusely. Blaine smiled. "Regretting you signed up for this?" he asked.

Kurt shook his head, smiling back with a wink. "The things I do because I love you."

Afterwards Blaine really wanted to splurge on brunch but Kurt pulled a packed lunch out of his bag as they were walking out of the NYADA gym. "I made one for you too," he said pointedly, handing it over to his fiancé.

Blaine took it. "You thought ahead," he said, a little sheepish.

Kurt nodded. "Think of the money we're saving," he pointed out.

Blaine knew Kurt was right. He had been wasting a lot of money eating out. And he knew he needed to start eating healthier—even if he wasn't trying to lose some weight he knew it would make him feel better overall if he did.

Gnawing on a granola bar on the train back home, Blaine mused, "You were right. It was hard, but now I feel like I've already accomplished something today and it's not even noon yet."

Kurt rubbed at his sore belly. "The first class is always the hardest. It'll be easier now because we'll know what to expect, and the more we go the stronger we'll get and closer to our goals."

Blaine made a face. "Your body's already perfect."

Kurt rolled his eyes. "You're biased. I bet half our stage combat class could bench press more than me."

"You're starting to sound like Sam. I never thought you'd be a fitness guru."

"Ha. All I did was start doing Sweatin to the Oldies and eating more lean protein, you'll get back to where you want to be soon enough." Kurt dismissed.

Blaine ate the turkey sandwich Kurt had packed for him, not altogether convinced.

"Did you memorize your monologue for your classical theatre class yet?" Kurt asked, trying to put aside the issue of food.

Blaine sighed. "No. I've been avoiding thinking about it," he admitted.

Kurt shook his head. "It's not going to do itself," he scolded lightly.

"I know, I'll get to it—" Blaine started to defend.

Kurt interrupted him though. "When we get home, you're working on it. "

Now that Blaine didn't live with Kurt full time, he wanted to savor as much of their together time as possible—and working on homework didn't feel very sexy, particularly when it was homework for a class they didn't even share together.

"I'll have time tomorrow—" he started.

"No," Kurt stopped him. "You leave it to tomorrow and you know you'll be working on it late into the night. You've got time this afternoon, let's get it over with."

Blaine pouted, a little annoyed. _I'm not a child, I can get my own homework done._

Kurt leaned into his fiancé, whispering low so the others on the train could not hear. "You have an issue, young man?" he asked.

Blaine pursed his lips. "No sir," he muttered, avoiding Kurt's gaze.

"You need to trust me. Putting it off all weekend isn't going to leave you feeling positive about yourself."

Blaine nodded, resigned but still looking away. He'd gone to the gym, had a healthy but bland lunch, and now he was going home to do homework. He was enjoying spending time with Kurt, of course, but this wasn't exactly what he'd envisioned it would look like back in the days before he had moved out to New York. _Some romantic weekend._


	3. Chapter 3

When Kurt and Blaine got home they found Rachel in the kitchen sampling a cookie from a tray she'd just taken out of the oven

"Hey Rachel!" Blaine greeted brightly.

Rachel smiled uneasily. "Oh, wow I didn't realize you two were going to be home this early," Rachel commented, caught off guard.

"What's all this?" Kurt asked her, cooler.

"I decided to make some treats for the Funny Girl cast to bring to rehearsal later. Want to try some?"

Blaine helped himself to one. "Thanks Rachel, they smell amazing!"

Kurt shook his head, declining. "Didn't you make chocolate muffins for everybody yesterday?" he asked.

Rachel busied herself with cleaning off the counter. "W-ell yeah. Just… in a baking mood I guess." Rachel explained. "You two gonna catch some Netflix or you goin back out?"

"Blaine has homework to do." Kurt supplied before Blaine could respond.

Blaine wrinkled his nose, but took the hint, grabbing his schoolbag from by the bookcase. "Yeah, maybe we'll binge watch something after, we'll see."

Kurt sat down at the kitchen table, shooing his fiancé towards the bedroom. "You should get started, I can test you when you think you've got it down. Rachel and I need to have a chat."

Blaine looked at Kurt quizzically. Rachel turned from the counter.

"We do?" she asked quietly.

"We do." Kurt responded, short. He then gave Blaine a look that sent him backing up. He disappeared behind the curtain in the bedroom without another word.

"S-something up?" Rachel asked.

"You tell me." Kurt countered. "You said you weren't expecting us home so soon?"

"I just assumed after working out you'd be—"

"You didn't think I'd catch you baking cookies. What happened to counting calories for your opening night?"

Rachel flushed. "I—I told you—it's a treat for the people in my show."

"Uh huh. That was the story yesterday."

"Everybody liked it and… we're all working so hard. I'm just being generous."

"I think you're being sneaky."  
"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I saw you eat one of those muffins yesterday after you baked them. You're supposed to be dieting."

"Kurt. One muffin isn't going to-"

"And you just had a cookie."

"Th-they're—I mean, it's a vegan recipe Kurt."  
"Seriously Rachel? I don't think the lack of eggs has an impact on the amount of sugar young lady."

"You're making a big deal out of—"

"Hey. You're the one who told me to stay on you about your diet." Kurt scolded. "It's your Broadway debut, and you're making up reasons to be off your diet."

"I'm not making up—"

"You want to treat the cast there's a thousand healthy things you could have made. We've been living together over a year, you never bake and here you're suddenly inspired two days in a row? Those things you made yesterday were practically diabetes pills. "

"I can't believe you. Blaine gets Cronuts all the time and you never say anything about it."

"Blaine isn't the issue, Rachel—you're deflecting."

"Well here I am, doing something nice and—"

"How many of those chocolate muffins did you make yesterday?"

Rachel fidgeted, "I don't know, a bunch. There's a lot of people in the show."

"More than you needed?"

"Well I wasn't sure if the stage managers would all want—"

"Was the one you ate here before you left the only one you had?" Kurt pressed.

"Kurt, you're being—"

"Answer the question young lady."

Rachel pouted. "Not exactly," she admitted finally.

"Not exactly?"

Rachel sighed. "I ate one on the subway. And there was some leftover after so I kind of had another coming back from rehearsal."

Kurt rolled his eyes. "So you had three chocolate muffins in one day? It's a wonder you didn't make yourself sick."

"It's not like I ate them all at once—" Rachel defended.

"And now you're pretending to be nice again making up another excuse to eat baked goods you know I'd never allow you to buy."

"It's not pretending—"

"You're hardly Julia Child. You hate cooking because you hate cleaning up after. But you decided you could get around our agreement about nutrition by making "gifts" for others. You're manipulating the rules. And testing to see if I'm paying attention. I am."

Rachel scowled. "What, am I supposed to throw these out now after all that work?" she asked sarcastically.

"No but I'd say you clearly need a good reminder to keep your hands off them on your way to rehearsal." Kurt commented before setting aside the tray of cookies and taking Rachel's arm.

"Ku-urrrt," Rachel whined, not liking where this was going.

"Ra-achel," Kurt mimicked, umimpressed, before firmly pushing her back down so she was half laying across the kitchen table. "At minimum you know you deserve consequences for sneaking sugary foods yesterday and you know it. You chose to be on this diet and asked for discipline when you slip up," he reminded her, flipping her skirt up before pulling her panties sharply to her knees. "You choose to feed your friends all this sugar it's your business but you don't get a medal for using that to blow off expectations," he scolded. " If you're going to be on a subway this afternoon with a carton of cookies I think a warm bottom will be a good distraction from any temptation to be diffing into it yourself," he added, patting the vulnerable bared bottom in question before landing a SMACK that had Rachel's torso stiffen.

"Okayyy I get it," she whined sullenly. "You don't have to—"

SPANK-SLAP. "I decide when you 'got it' young lady" Kurt admonished, holding her in place and monitoring the increasing pink across her fanny. "I'm not playing games here," he warned with another SMACK.

Rachel winced, remembering that Blaine was in the bedroom doing homework, and could obviously hear all of this. Embarrassed, she had to admit that this consequence was making a few nibbles of a cookie seem pretty not worth it.


	4. Chapter 4

Blaine was laying across the bed looking at his homework at the sound of the first smack. He had taken pains not to go out of his way to eavesdrop, but he'd known when his fiancé had said he needed a "chat" with Rachel and pointedly shooed him out of the room, it usually wasn't small-talk related. He bit his lip, unable to see through the curtain but having a good idea of what was going on behind it. The sound of a hand slapping against a bare bottom was pretty unmistakable, and of course Rachel's whines after each swat made it all the more clear. _Poor Rachel_. Blaine was often struck with empathy when Rachel was in trouble, even in times when it was hard to argue she didn't deserve it. He wondered what she'd done.

After a minute the spanking stopped and he could hear Kurt murmuring something and then a meeker Rachel saying "yes sir." There was a rustling about in the kitchen and then he heard the tap-tap of Rachel's heels going towards the bathroom and the creak of the door closing. Seconds later the woosh of the privacy curtain as Kurt opened it had him diving his eyes back to his homework.

Seeing Blaine's guilty face, Kurt shook his head. "Eavesdropping were we?" he accused mildly.

"No sir. I mean, not—purposely. It… got a little loud for a minute is all."

Kurt nodded. "She deserved it. Not that it's your concern," he added for good measure.

Blaine nodded, meek. "Chores again?" he asked timidly.

Kurt shook his head, sitting on the edge of the bed. He spoke quietly. "No. She's just not supposed to be eating all that sugar. I can't give her an inch on her diet when she's got the pressure of her opening night looming."

Blaine furrowed his brow. "I thought she said she made them for her cast."

"You her defense lawyer?"

"…No, sir."

"I know her tricks—it's her way of skirting the rules. When's the last time you saw her baking something?"

Blaine squirmed a moment. "Um… but sir—I kinda had one of those cookies," he said quietly.

Kurt shrugged. "I know."

"But aren't…I sort of supposed to be on a diet too?"

"Maybe. We did agree to start trying to eat healthier together. But you said you didn't want me monitoring your food that way, so I'm not."

Blaine chewed his lip. "But… it isn't really fair, if Rachel—"

"Who's in charge of your discipline, young man?"

"You sir, but—"

"Because this talk about what's fair is making it sound like you think you are."

"No—I- I'm just thinking that Rachel—"

"Last I checked I'm the one in charge of Rachel's discipline too. Correct?"

Blaine was quiet a moment, looking away. "…Of—of course sir," he said at last. "I just wouldn't want her to be mad if I get away with something that she gets taken to a woodshed for."

Kurt shook his head. "You worry about your own backside, she's fine. She admitted to eating three chocolate muffins yesterday too; she knows she broke the rules."

"You're… just really strict with her sometimes."

"I'm strict with both of you—when you need it. You need to trust me to discern when that is. But honestly, don't be going all soft and worrying I was too hard on her—it was only my hand and she didn't even cry this time. You know her, she practically always does," Kurt added, rolling his eyes.

Blaine nodded, knowing that was true. "So does this mean I can—really eat what I want?"

"For now. I can't say I'm not going to passive aggressively push healthy food your way more often now that I know you want to get healthier, because I totally am. And if I heard you had like 15 cronuts for breakfast or something, I think I'd be well within my rights to give you a good talking-to. But I'm not going to punish you for something we haven't discussed as an expectation. And after surviving your first abs class a cookie seems like a reasonable reward. Of course we can re-evaluate at any time, but right now I think for the most part you need encouragement with this getting healthier thing more than punishment."

Blaine smiled. "I'm sorry—I didn't mean to be comparing, I just know she will."

"She'sonly going to compare if she's having trouble owning her own mistakes. Rachel knows what her expectations are and what she has coming when she doesn't meet them. If she takes an issue with what you get punished for or not you can send her to me because I'll tell her exactly what I told you about her. If you both keep your heads in the game and focused on your own responsibilities neither one of you would need to be concerned about the prospect of having a spanking coming."

There was a pause as they heard the door to the bathroom creaking back open. Knowing Rachel, Blaine figured she'd taken the time to pull herself together after her chastisement. She could be noisy and unrepentant during a lot of punishments but she usually admitted her mistakes after she'd had some time to cool off. _Maybe I'm making a big deal about nothing._

"Now are we done talking about this? Because as I recall someone has a monologue to memorize, and homework is absolutely in the category of things I discipline you for when needed." Kurt said pointedly.

"Yessir," Blaine murmured, returning his eyes to his work.


	5. Chapter 5

About 45 minutes later, Blaine felt confident enough with the monologue enough to let Kurt test him and happily made it through it with only one minor flub.

"Not bad," Kurt praised.

"It was so much easier in high school when almost everything I had to memorize was set to music," Blaine grumped.

"True," Kurt conceded. "Don't you feel better knowing you've got this down now though? If I hadn't made you do it you'd have been freaking out about it tomorrow."

Blaine couldn't really argue with that. "It is nice to have it off my shoulders now," he admitted.

"Good," Kurt said with a smile.

Rachel's heels clicked by on the other side of the curtain. Blaine looked in the direction of the sound, thoughtful. The familiar chords of the Funny Girl overture faded in on the speakers on Rachel's side of the loft and he knew she was starting her pre-rehearsal ritual of running lines and singing along to the soundtrack. He turned back to Kurt, smiling. "You really do… take good care of me, Kurt, in so many ways. I don't know if I say it enough, but I appreciate it."

Kurt, touched, leaned in to give his fiancé a tender kiss. Blaine relaxed into the sensation, his hand lazily brushing against Kurt's arm. Kurt was just about to pull away, but Blaine's hand tightened around his wrist and suddenly he was kissing him harder, feeling Blaine's tongue slowly tease into his mouth. He hummed to himself, pleasantly surprised to then feel a hand wandering between his legs.

Kurt pulled himself from the kiss, mouth agape as he saw Blaine looking him up and down.

"Let me take care of you now," Blaine murmured with a squeeze.

Startled, Kurt covered his hand over Blaine's to force a pause.

"I don't—it's the middle of the day!" he whispered, a twitch of his hand betraying his desire.

"So?" Blaine said, impish.

"Blaine." Kurt admonished, tipping his head in the direction of Rachel somewhere on the other side of the curtain.

"She's listening to her soundtrack. Come on, it's been like two weeks…" Blaine whispered back, hungry.

Kurt looked at his fiancé, somewhat exasperated but certainly turned on. "She's still-–the white noise machine isn't—" he sputtered, helpless.

Blaine shrugged with a satisfied smile, enjoying this. "Guess you'll just have to be really quiet then," he dismissed playfully, pushing a blushing Kurt down on the bed as he made short work of the buttons on his pants.

Some time later, Kurt was admittedly blissfully spent, lying sideways across the bed having just caught his breath again. He did, however, rally the energy to still half-heartedly scold into Blaine's ear. "You can't just do that, what if she had barged in to ask about the heating bill or something?"

"I think she's aware we're in an intimate relationship. Were you keeping that a secret?" Blaine joked.

"You know what I mean." Kurt responded, unamused.

"She'd never just come in if the curtain's closed. Plus, I sort of figured she's holding a grudge against you for punishing her earlier and wouldn't being going out of her way to talk to us anyhow."

Kurt laughed, in spite of himself.

"But besides," Blaine continued, "If I'm only living here on weekends she's got to know that if the privacy curtain's closed there's always the possibility we're… busy. She's not stupid. And anyways, she doesn't care."

"Maybe, but I just can't believe we didn't even at least turn on the white noise machine -"  
"Don't you think that would draw more attention?" Blaine laughed. "If you want to keep it private we're messing around, I'm not sure that's the way to accomplish it."

Kurt sighed, shaking his head. "It's disrespectful. Or… something," he faltered.

Blaine shook his head, not phased. "Rachel doesn't care. And besides, you thought it was hot."

Kurt rolled his eyes, having no argument for that particular good point. "Well. That doesn't mean we should make a habit of it. Even if my lust for you clouds my judgment here and there, I would never want to risk making Rachel uncomfortable. We can find private time when she's out, or at night. When Brody was here she was discreet enough to keep their private time out of my face, we can at least make a minimal effort to return the favor."

Blaine snuggled up against Kurt. "Okay. You're not wrong," he conceded. "Just got caught up in how irresistible you are, is all."

Kurt rolled his eyes. "Ah, so it's my fault."

"Sure is," Blaine teased. "You know my bedroom at Mercedes place has an actual live DOOR on it though. Think of the noise we'll be able to make in the middle of the day there," he teased.

"You sure are incorrigible today," Kurt commented, fondly.

"Just happy," Blaine defended, sly.

Kurt put a hand on his lover's cheek, "Well, happiness looks good on you," he remarked seriously.

Blaine blinked and then ducked his head at that, shyly nodding. "I guess I've had my ups and downs lately. But I feel like today's… pretty good."

Kurt brushed his hand tenderly against Blaine's back. "Pretty good is a good start. You think going to class this morning helped?"  
"Yeah I'm glad we went," Blaine nodded. "Little sore, but glad I did it," he amended.

"Me too."

"I don't think I'm ever going to look forward to it, exactly, but I know it's going to help me get back to where I'd like to be. And thanks for making me get that monologue down—I was honestly sort of annoyed when you pushed me to do it when it's not due until Monday, but taking the time to learn it and learn it well- now that it's done I do feel… sort of accomplished? It just helps knowing that even if there's some things I don't like so much about myself right now and there's ups and downs at school—just knowing I'm doing my best and working on my goals… it just helps, somehow."

"Discipline has its rewards." Kurt encouraged.

Blaine nodded, rubbing his belly. "I just want to feel… attractive again."

Kurt chuckled to himself, drawing a pout from Blaine. Kurt pulled up the fabric on Blaine's shirt and leaned over to plant a kiss on his fiancé's stomach. "I'm sorry but I'm really not sure how much more I can do to show you how much you turn me on than what I did a few minutes ago," he remarked.

Blaine smiled to himself, remembering. "I'm glad you enjoyed it."

"Heh. You could say that." Kurt playfully kissed around Blaine's navel some more before stopping short. "And I would totally return the favor right now if we hadn't just agreed to be respectful roommates," he said with a grin.

Blaine groaned, smiling. "No fair, you were the one who was pushing that!" he complained. "I was all for being as disrespectful as possible!"

"Nope," Kurt said, swallowing a smile and making a show of pulling the fabric of Blaine's shirt back down. "I'll just have to wait until she goes. I'll have to find a way to keep my mouth off you for… another hour anyway," Kurt shrugged, and stood, pulling open the privacy curtain for good measure.

Blaine chucked a pillow in Kurt's direction in protest.

"Goodness your feisty," Kurt commented as he grabbed his laptop and gave a mocking shake of his head. "You know very well I don't put up with naughtiness," he added, grabbing his laptop. "I thought we could watch some Project Runway, but keep this behavior up and Rachel might not be the only one with a tanned hide today. You don't want that do you?"

Blaine sighed. "No, sir." he replied, conceding defeat.

"Excellent," Kurt said, lying back down next to Blaine as he opened the laptop so they could watch together.


	6. Chapter 6

After the first episode was through, Kurt got started posting a passionate play-by-play response to the controversial winning design on his blog.

"You're posting about reality tv online, yet I get made fun of for reading some Star Wars fanfiction?" Blaine groused playfully.

"This is my work! Project Runway is serious." Kurt defended.

"Uh huh." Blaine smiled. "Well I'm going to get a drink of water. Don't write a whole essay this time; I want to get to see the next episode before dark." he teased.

Kurt shooed him away and Blaine obliged, feeling light. _Weekends are the best._ Sleeping in his own bed all week had been an adjustment but he had to admit that being away from Kurt most of the week made the weekends feel more special, even if they weren't going anywhere or doing much.

As he was pouring water from the Brita into a glass, Rachel emerged from behind her curtain.

"Off to rehearsal?" Blaine asked.

"Yeah, in a bit. Just getting things together," she replied, taking out a bowl and starting to put the now cooled cookies into it.

"Those were really good, by the way," Blaine complimented.

Rachel wrinkled her nose. "Nothing special really, though I guess Kurt would prefer I make cookies made of cauliflower or something," she muttered.

Blaine smiled sympathetically. "You okay? Not… too sore?" he asked quietly.

"Hmm?" Rachel looked up, not knowing what he was referring to at first. "Oh. I- um," she stuttered when she realized. "No, I- I'm fine. Wasn't—that big of a deal. Or at least—not now that it's over."

"I honestly wasn't eavesdropping, it's just hard not to-"

"I know." Rachel cut him off.

There was an uncomfortable pause.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have brought it up." Blaine apologized.

Rachel shrugged, looking away. "When we're all here I guess I can't exactly pretend like you're not going to know if I've been in trouble. We knew it would happen."

"Just as likely to be me next time," Blaine offered.

"Sometimes I think you got the better deal only coming by on weekends now. Less chance of being taken to any woodsheds."

"Heh. Guess I hadn't really thought of that angle. But honest, I didn't mean to embarrass you. I should know better- when I get disciplined I'm not so much for talking about it myself," Blaine shared.

"It's fine. Just… feel a little ashamed, I guess. He makes me crazy sometimes," Rachel shared, her voice lower for good measure, "but after it's all over, I know that he's just doing what I asked, more or less. Can't really complain on that score."

Blaine nodded. "Usually I just feel sort of foolish because I can't believe I got myself in that position. And then the embarrassment of—physically- being in that position… I'm not fond of the pain but sometimes that's the least of it almost."

Blaine sighed. "Even if it's kind of awkward talking about it, just know you're never going to find someone more sympathetic than me on that front."

Rachel smiled."I know. There really isn't anyone else I can talk to about this. I hate how he always manages to hammer down on the more… humiliating aspects. I mean I guess it's all humiliating on some level, but you know what I mean? When we first started I kinda made a play to at least have it just over my skirt or whatever, but that was a nonstarter with Kurt."

"He's old fashioned."

"Yeah I remember he gave me some line about it being safer somehow because he could see if he went too far, but I honestly think he just leans into the ritual of it all to… drive his point home more."

"He just knows if we hate it he won't have to do it as often."

"It is childish. And I get it. But in the moment I just always feel like- he doesn't have to be that strict all the time." Rachel grumped.

Blaine nodded, putting a hand on Rachel's shoulder. "You just have to always remember he just really cares about you. But he understands that no one wants to be punished, of course you're going to feel that way in the moment most of the time."

"I know. It's my own damn fault for telling him to stay on me about my diet—but in my head, I just meant like here and there though, not like so I can't get away with anything."

Blaine looked at Rachel funny. "You know he'd tell you we're not supposed to be trying to "get away" with things at all."

"…You know what I mean."

Blaine shrugged. "Usually if I have any feeling like I have to keep something from him it's usually a pretty good barometer that I shouldn't be doing it in the first place."

Rachel shook her head. "Sometimes I don't know how you manage to ever even get punished at all. You're like the biggest goody two-shoes I've ever met."

"Hey!"

"Well you are. I mean that in the nicest possible way, of course," she insisted, digging through a drawer to find some Saran wrap.

"Uh huh. You really are basically the sister I've never had," Blaine commented.  
"Heh. Kinda." Rachel laughed. "Except I'm not sure most sisters have quite as up-to-the-minute report on their brother's sex lives as I do lately. You two couldn't wait until I left for rehearsal?"

Blaine's face colored. "I—um—we didn't think you'd hear—"

"Yeah you two are lousy at keeping it quiet."

"Oh… I—I'm sorry."

Rachel laughed. "Don't worry. I'm just teasing. I really don't care. Maybe a little jealous, honestly, but otherwise, have fun."

Blaine nodded, a little too embarrassed suddenly to look her in the eye. "He was worried you'd overhear," he admitted quietly, "but I told him not to worry."

Rachel shook her head. "You just came out of that crazy abs bootcamp class, he probably couldn't resist you," she teased.

Blaine smiled. "Not sure my body's any better after just one class." He patted his belly. "Kurt just has low standards I think."

"Come on, you're a catch! You just don't believe in yourself."

"I gained a lot of weight since moving here. I know it's just the Freshman Fifteen or whatever, but I was kind of freaking out about it and Kurt pushed me to do something."

"Explains the workout torture."

"It wasn't torture. It was fun for a bit. But I was glad when it was over," he confessed.

"Few weeks of that and you'll probably hardly feel it. My first month of school I thought my dance classes were going to kill me and then I sort of got used to it. You'll look forward to it after you start seeing the results you're looking for."

"I hope so."

"I admire you guys for taking it on, you're both so busy already. I'd be tempted to blow it off."

"Heh, no chance of that with Kurt going with me. He'd definitely have something to say if he went and I didn't show." Blaine said, looking back at the curtain, hearing the familiar sounds of Heidi Klum's voice in the Project Runway opening. "Well, gonna get back to the next episode. Have a good rehearsal, sis," he nudged Rachel.

"Okay little bro," Rachel laughed. "Stay out of trouble."


	7. Chapter 7

A couple days later Monday night dinner was finishing up and Blaine was lingering at the sink, having volunteered to wash dishes. Kurt came over and nudged him.

"Hey," he said, quiet and fond.

"Hey," Blaine murmured.

"I think Sam's got an early shoot tomorrow- he and Mercedes are going to need to leave soon." Kurt said gently.

Blaine nodded, knowing the implication. Kurt wasn't a fan of Blaine being out too late at night by himself, and he'd be expected to leave with them. "I know," he said quietly, a little regret in his voice.

"You'll be back this weekend. It's not like we're not going to be seeing each other at school all week."  
"I know. It' s just hard leaving here and going back to my bed by myself sometimes," Blaine shared confidentially. "I got spoiled having you every night."

Kurt placed a small kiss on Blaine's brow. "It's hard seeing you leave too. We'll get used to it."

"Oh, I wanted to show you something!" Blaine said suddenly. He pulled Kurt's hand, leading him over to his bag near the loft door.

Kurt looked at Blaine quizzically. "What is it?"

"I was thinking, the abs class is great, but if I'm going to get real results I need to be exercising between classes too. I ran into Amy after my Voice class this morning and she recommended this app." Blaine pulled out his phone, showing Kurt. "You log in and they have like a 10 minute mini-workout you can play on your phone or your tablet, all stuff you can do at home and don't need equipment for. They mix it up every day so it doesn't get boring, You can track calories there too if you want. And they have this buddy feature where you log any other workouts too, and she says a lot of people are into that because it helps them keep each other accountable."

Kurt nodded, smiling. "Sounds useful. It's a good idea," he said.

"I don't want to push you, and I know you're already so busy, but I thought it'd be good for us to try." Blaine offered.

Kurt shrugged. "10 minutes every couple days isn't bad. I told you, we're in this race together, and if it helps for me to do some of this with you I'm happy to. I'm not touching any of that crazy stuff you got off of Matthew McConaughey's blog with a ten foot pole, but this seems healthy at least."

Blaine grinned. "Fair."

Kurt pursed his lips, thoughtful, and then leaned into Blaine's ear. "You'd need to decide about consequences if you want me to be keeping you accountable with it," he said low, careful not to let the others hear.

Blaine looked over at Sam and Mercedes, flirting on the couch, and then back again. "Decide? Oh. I uh, just figured—you know, like it'd be like any other time," he said dismissively.

"So, say, if you didn't do your workout you'd think you should be punished?"

Blaine flushed. "W-well I don't know. It won't be necessary anyway because I really am going to do this," he deflected.

"I know. But you know that knowing there's a possibility of consequences keeps you more focused." Kurt countered. "And I just want to be clear because we said I wouldn't be monitoring your diet like with Rachel—I don't want to be pushing you if it's not what you want."

Blaine nodded. "That's fair. I'm honestly not having a banana split every night at Mercedes house or anything, I really am trying to eat healthier—"

"I know," Kurt assured.

"But I also know I tend to put too much pressure on myself, so I want to commit to adding this exercise in and just ease in to cooking better and everything—Honestly I think if I felt like I'd be critiqued for what I was eating it might make things worse," Blaine confessed. "I don't know if that even makes sense—"

"It does," Kurt cut him off.

Blaine sighed. "These feel like manageable changes. And knowing you'd be at the abs class and check up on me on the app sometimes—it'll just be extra encouragement to stick with it. And yeah, I guess if I really wasn't doing what I agreed to, then you… would handle it like you've handled other things." Blaine said, a little uncomfortably.

Kurt nodded, giving his fiancé a squeeze and a peck on the cheek. "Sounds doable. I'm really proud of you, honestly. You're making some goals and have a plan to keep on track."

Blaine smiled shyly at the praise. "Thanks, Kurt."


	8. Chapter 8

Blaine was so pumped about using the new app that he jumped into one of the workouts as soon as he got home, which resulted in Mercedes knocking on his door, asking if he really was going to be making all that noise jumping around much longer because she had to wake up early and it was kind of annoying.

"Sorry Mercedes, I'm just trying to get a little evening workout in before—"

Mercedes held up a hand, uninterested. She had barely stayed awake on the train ride home. "Just keep it down, okay? Or take it into the living room downstairs. It's the middle of the night, Blaine, what's wrong with you?"

Blaine nodded a meek assent and closed the door. He didn't like having Mercedes annoyed with him. She'd been so nice to give him and Sam such a great deal on the apartment, and after all the roommate woes with Kurt he wanted to be extra careful in all aspects of making his new living situation smooth. So far things had been going well and he didn't want to ruin it. When he'd first moved in Kurt had pulled him aside amid unpacking boxes to say that he'd be checking in with Mercedes and that he wasn't above punishing him for any unacceptable behaviors she reported. Blaine didn't really think it was likely he'd be punished for something like this, but he knew Kurt was very loyal to Mercedes. If she had any legitimate complaints he'd likely face a scolding at least.

The next day he was eager to use his new app again to record his healthy breakfast of fruit and granola. He then packed his lunch of a turkey sandwich, an apple, and some carrots and hummus, managing to avoid the temptation to stop for cronuts on the way in to school. But having dance class followed by mime took a lot out of him that morning though, and he ended up snacking on most of that between classes before it was even lunchtime. Starved by noon, he stopped by the food cart outside NYADA's student center and got a hot dog.

"Cheating on your diet are we?" Rachel teased from behind him.

Blaine stiffened but relaxed when he saw it was only Rachel behind him. "Not on a diet," he countered. "Just trying to eat a little healthier. But honestly," he admitted, "this was the lowest calorie option here. I really should start packing emergency snacks."

Rachel nodded. "Kurt won't let me near the food trucks anymore, I just came to get another water," she said holding it up. "Accidentally forgot my water bottle in the dishwasher today and felt like I had to sneak around to get hydrated when I'm not even doing anything wrong."

Blaine smiled. "He's keeping you on your toes, I guess."

Rachel nodded. "Where is he?"  
"Study group for his Shakespeare class. They have a big test at the end of the week, so I'm guessing he'll be spending his lunch outside the library."  
"Wow, I thought you two would be joined at the hip at NYADA."

"Heh. Well, we still have plenty of classes together. But I think he's making a conscious effort to give me more space at school and help me explore New York more, make more friends. When I first got here I was kind of suffocating him," Blaine admitted, "I'm trying not to push getting lunch together all the time like before."

Rachel nodded. "Everyone feels lonely when they first start college I think. I did."

"Really?"  
"Sure. I had a terrible roommate situation when I first got here. Thank

goodness Kurt rescued me from dorm life. I know I complain about him sometimes, but I don't know what I'd do without my best friend here."

Blaine smiled, thinking of Sam. _Having a best friend in the city really is everything sometimes._ He was relieved that it didn't seem like Sam was going to be jet-setting to Paris anytime soon, but he knew it was always possible Sam would finally give up on modeling and go back to Ohio. He didn't like to admit how much that idea kind of terrified him. For awhile there in the loft he told himself that Sam needed him and that he was helping Sam get more comfortable in the city—but the reality was often that Sam was the one who made Blaine feel grounded outside of Kurt.

Blaine texted Sam. **Wanna skip video games tonight? Let's have a bro-night and catch some music somewhere or something.**

A few moments later he got a text back. **Sure!**

Blaine had a spring in his step the rest of the afternoon, planning his evening out in great detail. First we'll hit that bar Kurt took me to the first week I moved out here, then we'll go to Mercury Lounge for some music, then hit the diner around the corner…

If his teachers were annoyed by his daydreaming that afternoon, they didn't say so. "You're in a good mood today," was Kurt's only comment as he left his last class.

Blaine shrugged. "Lookin forward to relaxin with Sam tonight.."

Kurt smiled. "I'm glad you two are rooming together. Unfortunately I'm going to be knee-deep in studying tonight myself."

Blaine kissed his cheek. "Don't work too hard."

On the subway later, Blaine got a text from Sam. **Bro, I'm sorry can we try tomorrow? The agency wants me to go in for an audition tonight and Mercedes wants me to meet her for late dinner.**

Blaine frowned, annoyed. He got that Sam had it bad for Mercedes these days but it was annoying that she trumped him when it came to Sam's priorities. But he felt it'd be childish to make an issue of it. He texted Sam back.

 **Sure Sam. We can touch base tomorrow.**

He tried texting Artie and got a succinct response indicating that Artie had plans pursuing some girl from film school that evening and definitely would not be available. He sulked his way home, not wanting to spend money going out if Sam wasn't even going to be there. Most of the people he knew at NYADA had been Kurt's friends first—it was a hazard of talking his way into so many of Kurt's classes for the semester. He liked most of them but he didn't feel like he was on terms to be just calling out of the blue to go out with anyone by himself. He sighed. He was so used to being a half of a couple it felt like he didn't quite know how to make new friends anymore. _I really never would have guessed how lonely I'd be here._

He made himself a sandwich and then flipped on a _Gilmore Girls_ rerun on the television, laying out on the couch. After several minutes, his phone dinged and he jumped at it, hoping maybe Sam's audition had somehow been postponed or something, but it was only a notification from his workout app, telling him to do his 10 minutes of crunches and core exercises. He played the video, watching the workout passively as he finished his sandwich. He just couldn't get excited about sit ups right now. _I'll make up for it tomorrow_ , he thought to himself, hitting the "completed" button after the workout played and turning his attention back to the TV.


	9. Chapter 9

The next day Blaine forgot all about missing his workout until the notification came up on his phone again that evening. But true to his word, Sam had made up for missing their bro-night by taking him out to their favorite diner with promises of catching some music at a bar around the corner to come.

"DUDE. Tell me you're not going to let Kurt send you love texts all night. It's bro night," Sam scolded.

"Heh. Only if you tell Mercedes the same thing," Blaine countered. "But it's not Kurt, just this new app buzzes every night to tell me to workout more." He handed his phone over to Sam who clicked the video to check it out.

"Dude, you don't need an app, that's what you've got me for."

"No offense, but our video game marathons are probably contributing to my health problems rather than helping them."

Sam pouted. "We could do other stuff. I whipped half of Glee into shape last year for those calendars."

"Yeah, and only alienated 90% of our friends doing it," Blaine teased.

"Come on!"

"You were ridiculous. I have witnesses."  
"Well I happen to remember that you loved broga, we could start doing it every day!"

"Eh, maybe. I'd be up for it if our schedules aligned but yours is a lot more unpredictable than mine lately. This is the first night we've even been able to do anything more than play video games since we moved in with Mercedes."

"Well, in fairness, you're not even home most of the weekend."

Blaine had to concede that point. "Well, if I decide to be in the market for a personal trainer, I'll let you know. Right now I just want to shed a few pounds and get back into shape. Between the app and the abs class every Saturday I think I've got it under control."

"How's the app work?"  
"The workout video is different every day and I log my time, set goals,

stuff like that. You should try it too! It'll help keep you in model shape." As Blaine spoke he tapped the "complete" button next to the day's workout and slipped his phone back into his pocket.

"I'll think about it. Honestly, Mercedes is always yelling at me for spending too much time looking at screens. She thinks you're a bad influence because I play more games with a roommate than I'd probably play on my own. She's this close to putting us both on a video game diet."

Blaine shrugged. "I think that's the first time anyone's ever called me a bad influence on someone, but I'll do my best to keep you out of trouble. But if you were being honest you'd be telling her that you're the one who always suggests gaming in the first place." Blaine knew Sam's gaming habits could get out of control sometimes. Blaine enjoyed playing with Sam and Artie, but he wasn't as tempted on his own, preferring to lose himself in the Netflix void in those times. _Everyone has vices, I guess._ If Mercedes did create new house rules about video games he probably wouldn't going to rock the boat. _Even if I wanted to complain, Kurt would probably find out and make me fall in line anyway. He doesn't play any of that stuff._

"Dude, you're supposed to be on my side about these things." Sam shook his head exasperatedly. "I had to explain why bro night trumped cuddle time tonight, the least you can do-"

Just then Sam's phone rang.

"Woah Mercedes' ears must have been ringing!" Blaine teased. "She must have a sixth sense when you're plotting to misbehave."

Sam made a face. "For your information, it's Rachel," he explained, answering his phone. "Hey Rach, what's up?..."

As it happened, Rachel actually was at the loft with Mercedes, who had decided if she was going to be blown off for bro night she might as well have a girl night. They chatted for awhile on speaker phone with the boys, taking requests for which fancy dessert Mercedes should make for the next Monday night dinner. Kurt got home just as they were hanging up.

"Hi Kurt!" Mercedes greeted brightly.

"Well this is a nice surprise, I didn't expect you'd be over tonight."

"Just having a girl's night."

"Ah." Kurt put his bag down, looking through the mail on the table.

"You just missed it, we just got off the phone with Blaine and Sam."

"Oh are they out tonight? That's great. I think Blaine was kind of bummed yesterday when Sam couldn't go bar hopping with him."

"Yeah, sounds like they're hitting the town."

Kurt smiled. "Good for them. He better not keep him out too late though because we have Textual Analysis class in the morning."

Mercedes nodded. "I told Sam you'd have words with him if he did."

"Good thing I have you to reign in his influence," Kurt teased. "My only reservation about them moving in together was that it would devolve into one long video game marathon."

Mercedes shook her head. "They're such nerds," she laughed.

"Our nerds, but yes," Kurt agreed, sitting at the table and looking at his phone. "Honestly, I really shouldn't be so critical about the gaming, whenever I said anything to Blaine about it when Sam was crashing here he was pretty good about setting some limits. And honestly, Blaine's been working really hard in school and trying to get in shape with this new app he has," Kurt held up his phone to show Mercedes. "He probably deserves some zone-out time here and there. He's done workouts every day this week so far with this thing and I've yet to even done it once."

Rachel and Mercedes chattered on over the recipe book as Kurt looked closer at his phone. It listed the workout times and he paused over the last one, noticing today's date and the timestamp.

"Hey Rachel?" he interrupted.

"Hmm?" Rachel and Mercedes looked up.

"You said Sam and Blaine were out at a bar?"

"Yeah, sounded like they'd been there awhile. I think that one in the village you two always liked this summer?"

"Huh," Kurt muttered, thoughtful as he turned off his phone.


	10. Chapter 10

Kurt wasn't sure what to do. It seemed that Blaine had used his app while he was at the bar, and marked that he'd completed a workout. Maybe he had done the workout earlier and just hadn't gotten around to recording it in the app or maybe he'd hit the "complete" button by mistake when he'd meant to put off the workout until after he got home, but that seemed pretty unlikely. The app was supposed to be a way for Blaine to communicate with Kurt that he'd met the obligation himself; he'd specifically said he wanted it to help keep him accountable. And if he was recording his workout untruthfully, well… dishonesty was a way bigger deal than a missed workout in Kurt's book. Maybe there was a reasonable explanation, but he'd made a commitment to keep on him about working out so they definitely should talk. He couldn't really address it right now one way or another—Blaine was miles away with Sam. He could text him about it, but if Blaine was with Sam he didn't want to risk Sam seeing some reference to their arrangement. So Kurt just texted Blaine, **Hear you're out bar-hopping with Sam. Be safe. XO** , resigned that they'd have to find time to talk about it tomorrow between classes or something.

Kurt sighed. He felt a little conflicted about taking Blaine to task for blowing off a workout when he'd implied he'd be in solidarity trying to do the workouts too. He rubbed his forehead, tired. Crunches were the last thing he wanted to do right now, but Blaine'd be right to call him a hypocrite if he wasn't even doing the workouts himself, at least a few times a week anyway. It was sort of embarrassing, really, because it was just a 10 minute thing— _there ought to be 10 minutes in a day to be able to do just about anything_ , but somehow it had been hard to fit in with school and work this week. He should have tried to start doing them in the morning when he was fresh, at night he just wanted to collapse. He trudged over to the closet, digging out his yoga mat. _Might as well get this over with._

"What are you doing?" Rachel asked, curious.

"Can't stand the thought of being called out for not keeping up with the ab workouts," Kurt admitted.

Rachel wrinkled her nose. "That sounds awful."

"It's just 10 minutes. I can do anything for 10 minutes. You two are welcome to join, of course—"

"No, thank you!" Mercedes said curtly, copying down a recipe as she spoke.

"Yeah you're on your own there," agreed Rachel. "Mercedes is making mandarin orange cake for dessert on Monday!"

"Ugh, don't tell me that, I'm losing calories here!"

Rachel rolled her eyes. "You don't need to lose any calories, you're ridiculous."

"Nothing wrong with being healthy. Besides, it's for Blaine." Kurt countered, heading into his bedroom to do his workout and leave the girls to their girls' night.

Across town Blaine got himself talked into a second beer. After finishing that one his head was woozy. _God when was the last time I drank more than a glass of wine?_ Sam barely even looked buzzed; Blaine found it sort of embarrassing how much of a lightweight he could be when it came to alcohol. _I really shouldn't be pushing it when I have class in the morning, but…screw it._ He was having fun for what felt like the first time in a long time, and thinking about it too much was just going to bring him down, he reasoned.

Blaine was certainly cursing his choices the next morning though. He didn't actually remember coming home, but Sam must have gotten him there one way or another. He didn't throw up or anything, but his head was pounding and he had the restless feeling of not having gotten real sleep the night before. Whining as he stretched and turned off the alarm, he thought about how nice it would be to just claim he was sick and blow off class. But he remembered with chagrin that Kurt had texted him last night. Rachel must have told him he'd gone to the bar, and Kurt would know if he was "sick" today it was likely he was just hungover. _He'd put me over his knee so fast if I tried that…_ Blaine grimaced and forced himself out of bed.

He was still grumpy an hour later, but the morning coffee on his subway ride to class helped a little. But Kurt knew him so well he probably shouldn't have been surprised to be greeted with concern.

"You okay?"

"Just have a headache… hope I'm not coming down with something" he muttered into his coffee, sitting down and busying himself with taking out his notes on the Enlightenment from class last week.

"How late did Sam keep you out last night?" Kurt pressed.

Blaine shrugged. "N-not that late. I'm fine." Blaine sat up straighter, trying to look like he had it more together than he did.

Kurt studied him for a moment, but was interrupted by the professor handing out packets of worksheets and announcing that everyone needed to get into groups. It was an unwritten rule between them now that if there was a chance to work apart in their shared classes they'd take it, trying to give each other space even if they were in class together. Kurt sighed, making a mental note to dig deeper later. "I'm going to join the other group," he whispered, "let's talk at lunch."


	11. Chapter 11

Blaine wasn't 100% by lunch, and certainly would have given anything for a nap, but food helped. He gratefully ate his chicken salad sandwich as he reviewed his Textual Analysis homework assignment on a bench outside the classroom. The professor had assigned a group project, and he was anxious to make a good impression on his classmates and make sure he didn't drop the ball anywhere. In high school he'd only shared one class with Kurt and went out of his way to try to work with him for any group assignments. When Kurt graduated he usually matched up with Tina or someone else from Glee. He didn't know these classmates very well and everyone was so competitive. He had this sense at NYADA that he was never going to be good enough, and every new challenge made him anxious.

He looked back at the classroom door, and saw that Kurt, who'd been tied up asking the professor a follow-up question, was finally getting his things and headed his way. Blaine smiled, happy to have a moment with Kurt.

"Hey, how's your group?" he asked, moving over on the bench to leave space for his fiancé.

Kurt shrugged, digging his lunch from his bag and sitting down. "Two of them are fine but I'm putting money down now that the other two are likely to blow off the whole project and make us do all the work. I hate group work."

Blaine made a face. "I know what you mean." In high school he actually had loved group work, but only because he got to work with his friends and didn't really mind if they made him do all the heavy lifting. And he belonged to so many clubs. Here he felt like school was kicking his ass so much he was afraid to take on much more. _Everything is so different here._

"It's probably good for us, though. The theatre's a team sport," Kurt commented.

"True. And it's making me at least try to get to know some other people. I've been thinking I spend a lot of time with Sam and Artie when I'm not with you. I probably should try to get to know more NYADA people somehow."

"As long as you don't join show choir, I'm for it."  
Blaine grinned. "I'm guessing the Adam's Apples alums aren't big fans of mine since I took you off the market?"

"Heh. Some of them. Can't fault them for loyalty I guess. Adam's fine now, but I'm pretty sure my being banned for life there stands and it extends to my fiancé too."

"Will have to find something else then I guess," Blaine mused.

Kurt took a swig of his water bottle. "So I wanted to talk to you," he began.

Blaine turned, unpeeling a banana as he did so. "Hmmm?"

"You looked pretty tired this morning."

"Oh. Yeah. A little. Went to bed a little late I guess."

"What time you get home?"

Blaine hedged. "I—uh, I think around 11?"

"You think?"

Blaine squirmed. "I wasn't checking my watch or anything."

"I only bring it up because I know you were out with Sam last night. And he's not always a model of responsibility."

"I thought you liked that I went out with him. You said you wanted me to explore the city more on my own," Blaine defended.

"Of course. But you need to be careful. If you're going out on a school night you need to get back at a reasonable hour."

Blaine scoffed. "I can't exactly tell Sam I have a curfew like some little kid."

Kurt raised an eyebrow and lowered his voice. "I wasn't considering giving you a curfew, but I can take it under consideration if it seems like that's what you need."

Blaine opened his mouth and then thought better of it seeing Kurt's stern gaze. He suddenly felt very aware that they were in public, with other students walking by. His posture stiffened.

"Would you be embarrassed to have to tell Sam you have a curfew? I've done it with Rachel, I can do it with you." Kurt pressed.

Blaine flushed. "…If I did, I probably wouldn't tell him. I'd make up an excuse," he admitted quietly.

Kurt nodded. "Makes telling him you just have class in the morning seem pretty easy, huh?"

"…yes, sir." Blaine replied meekly.

Kurt looked Blaine over. "Were you drinking last night?"

"It was a bar, Kurt," Blaine replied, feeling a little annoyed by the question.

"That's not an answer."

"…I had a- couple drinks- but I'm allowed to-"

"A couple?" Kurt interrupted.

"Why are you asking all these questions, it's not like-"

"Because I want to know if you just got to bed late or if the reason you looked like hell this morning was you were hungover."

"…I didn't throw up or anything," Blaine deflected.

"So you admit you had too much to drink last night?"

Blaine hesitated. "…Maybe a little? I don't… actually remember getting home last night," he admitted.

Kurt shook his head. "You have the alcohol tolerance of a small child, Blaine."

"Hey! I do not—"

"And you know it. You can't keep up with Sam, and you can't be doing that on a school night. I'll agree to one drink a night when you go out, but that's it unless it's a weekend."

Blaine pouted. "I'm an adult."

"Well you're not going to be feeling like much of one when you're facing a pretty childish punishment next time you show up to school hungover." Kurt pronounced.

Blaine chewed on his lip, getting the message. He looked away.

Kurt ate his food, letting Blaine sulk a moment. He took a breath. "Now there's something else I need to discuss with you."

 _What now?_

"You had asked me to keep you accountable for your workouts."

Blaine tensed. "Um. Yeah. I know."

"I've been checking the app."

Blaine forehead wrinkled. "I logged in every day this week so far."

"Yeah, I know."

"Isn't that what you expected?"

"Sure, but I didn't expect you'd be doing your workout at at the bar last night."

"… What?"

"There's a timestamp, Blaine. Unless there's a gym across the street from that bar I don't know about, you recorded a workout in the app while you were out last night."  
Blaine fidgeted. "…Oh. W-well it notified me while I was still out and I obviously couldn't do it there."

"Then why did you click that you'd completed it?"

"I j-just figured I'd do it before bed when I got home…" Blaine scrambled.

"I see. Well it seems to me you just confessed that you don't even remember going home last night. Think it's a safe bet you weren't doing crunches while you were blackout drunk?"

"I wasn't—"

"You don't know what you were. You don't remember. We could ask Sam for details, but it doesn't really matter. What matters is your dishonesty."

"…d-d-dishonesty? I didn't lie to you—"

"Sure you did. You lied in the app, which communicates with me. You knew if you didn't record something I'd ask why you didn't do your workout. You did it because you didn't want to get in trouble."

Blaine studied his hands. "I just thought I'd get to it later."

"Uh huh," Kurt said, skeptical. "You've done this before?"

"Done what?"

"Lied to me. In the app."

"I can't believe you think it's lying—"  
"What else would you call it then?"

Blaine didn't have a good answer for that question. "S-sometimes I just… am busy or something, so I click complete because I know I'll do the workout later is all."  
Kurt shook his head. "Well you're not doing that anymore. When I see your workout is complete I expect it means you did it, not that you meant to get to it eventually and maybe not at all."

Blaine swallowed. "…yes, sir," he finally muttered meekly.

"You know I don't like dishonesty, young man."

Blaine grimaced at the "young man" talk, here in the middle of NYADA. He nodded miserably.

"And while you claim to be unclear that this was dishonest, I hope you are clear that I will absolutely consider this sort of thing dishonest going forward."

Blaine squirmed. "Yes, sir."

"You know quite well what I think appropriate consequences for dishonesty are, do you not?"  
"I… I do, sir."

"I don't care if you call it a half-truth, a fib, or a white lie—if it's in an app, a text, or in person— if you're having trouble remembering to be perfectly honest with me you know we have a wooden spoon at the loft that is pretty effective at reminding you."

"…yes, sir."

"I'm glad we understand each other then. I have to say, I'm disappointed because I thought you had been doing your workout every night and now it sounds like that's not the case at all."

Blaine flushed, embarrassed. "…I did it some nights," he defended half-heartedly.

"Then you should have recorded it only on those nights."

"…Yes, sir."

Kurt cleared his throat, and then whispered into Blaine's ear. "Well, you're really lucky you're not going back to the loft tonight, because if you were I'd be hard pressed not to put you over my knee between this and your lack of judgment last night."

"I—I'm sorry, sir." Blaine mumbled, uncomfortable.

Kurt sighed. "But seeing as you aren't, I'm letting this go with a warning and an extra workout tonight."

"Extra?"  
"Your normal ten minutes tonight, plus the ten minutes you should have done last night. And you're doing it at the NYADA gym, after classes today, so I can monitor that you actually do it."

Blaine shrunk a little, embarrassed.

"Then," Kurt continued, "We'll have a clean slate going forward, with the understanding that anymore shenanigans around workouts will be met with stiffer consequences. Fair?"

Blaine nodded grimly. "Fair."


	12. Chapter 12

As agreed, Blaine followed Kurt out of their last class that day across the street to the NYADA gym. They stuffed their things into a locker there and found a corner past the weights.

"I'm sorry for disappointing you," Blaine whispered quietly into Kurt's ear., feeling sheepish after having had all afternoon to think about it.

Kurt nodded, reaching out a hand for Blaine's phone. Blaine handed it over, watching as Kurt opened the app and hit the play button on a new workout. He leaned the phone up against the windowsill and stood next to Blaine.

"You're working out too?" Blaine asked, surprised.

"The first one," Kurt smiled. "I was going to try to do it today anyway, and figure might as well get it over with. But the second one you're on your own."  
Blaine nodded. "I understand," he said meekly.

Neither spoke as they followed the video through the advised stretches. They counted quietly to themselves as they moved into planking, then leg lifts, then situps, then squats, quickly working up a sweat in just a few minutes. After ten minutes, Blaine laid out on the mat trying to stretch the vague ache across his belly. Kurt wiped the sweat from his brow and then took it upon himself to mark the workout complete before starting a new video in the app.

Blaine fought the urge to make a face, knowing better than to voice any complaint as he crawled himself back up to start again. Truth be told, he knew 20 minutes of ab exercises was nothing compared to the 45 minute full ab class, but knowing he could have already been done hit hard. He felt sort of on display working out by himself with people in the gym walking around. It definitely made him wish he'd completed his workout in the privacy of his own bedroom in the first place. Everyone was busy doing their own workouts, and he knew no one really cared, but he still felt under a microscope somehow. He stole a glance at Kurt in between reps, who was sitting on a bench by the wall, watching. Blaine took a breath, knowing he would hear about it if he did anything half-way, and tried to pay attention to his form. He wondered if this all really would get easier if he kept with it for 3 or 6 months. _Maybe after I actually see some results._ He groaned quite a bit more during the sit-ups this time around. _How long until I have six-pack like Sam?_

Finally the video wrapped up and he was lying across the mat again, groaning and trying to stretch out the ache all across his stomach. Kurt looked turned off the video and stepped towards his fiancé, looking over him.

"All done," he said quietly, reaching a hand down.

Blaine sighed and took his hand to push himself back to his feet. He rubbed at his side, grimacing.

"Learn a lesson?" Kurt asked.

Blaine tried to make eye contact. "Yes, sir," he muttered, trying not to let anyone in the gym overhear.

"You should do some cardio tomorrow instead of strength training," Kurt advised. "You're going to be sore and need time to recover."

Blaine agreed, frowning at the thought of this gnawing pain continuing. "Yeah," he said miserably.

If Blaine was hoping for any comforting at that point, he didn't get any. Kurt handed back his phone and led him back to the locker room to get the rest of their things. Blaine sighed, knowing Kurt had gone pretty easy on him and he probably ought to be grateful for that.

"Kurt?" he asked suddenly.

"I know you think the whole thing with the app—that it's lying—"

Kurt blinked. "It is," he said simply, a little taken aback that maybe Blaine hadn't gotten the message after all.

"N-no, I mean, I know it's lying. To you, and to myself in a way."

Kurt nodded.

"I just meant—since I lied, um…" Blaine fidgeted, uncertain. "I was just thinking, that if Rachel did this, wouldn't you be, uh stricter?"

Kurt blinked, caught off guard by the question. "You think so?"

"Yeah, um, can we keep this between us? I only ask because I think Rachel would be mad."

Kurt smiled. "If you really wanted me to be stricter about this I suppose I could comply," he teased.

Blaine blushed. "Well, I wasn't going to… ask for that," he admitted.

Kurt gave his fiancé a hug. "You worry about Rachel too much. She knows I treat you both fairly, even if it's different sometimes. Besides, if she was going to be mad about how I discipline, she's going to be mad at me, not you," he pointed out.

Blaine gave a half-smile in his fiancés arms. "I guess. I don't know why I think of that. I guess I just feel like… I don't like people being mad at me. The first night I had the app I made too much noise working out and I feel like I've been sucking up to Mercedes over it ever since," he admitted.

"Oh Blaine, your friends are going to keep being your friends even if they're annoyed with you sometimes," Kurt assured. "You make me worry about you. You talk like everyone's going to drop you out of their life over something silly someday. We all love you more than that."

Blaine got misty at that, but just nodded.

Kurt rubbed his arm. "I love you, Rachel loves you, Mercedes, Artie, and Sam—we all are rooting for you. And I hate to say it but we're all going to find something you do irritating at some point, so you might as well drop trying to be perfect and just know that we're going to love you through it all. The Glee Brotherhood is stronger than you give it credit for."

Blaine giggled, relaxing. "You make it sound like some kind of secret cult," he said.

"Eh, sometimes when I try to explain life in Ohio to the born-and-bred New Yorkers around here it feels stranger than that," Kurt joked.

"I guess I just feel like I have to be super precious about my old relationships right now because I haven't really connected with NYADA folks yet. Artie's out with a different girl every night—he's totally living this college dream and I'm just trying to get a passing grade in stage combat." Blaine groused.

"Well, you're never going to feel better comparing yourself to others." Kurt commented gently.

Blaine nodded and sighed. "You're right."

Kurt rubbed Blaine's back. "It's not a competition. You just have to put one foot in front of another towards your goals. And you know we're here to help however we can. I'll just keep trying to show you that I'll be there for you no matter what, until you can believe me. But I do think you should talk to Rachel about what you said before."

"About what?"

"About what she'd think of your discipline today."

"What? Why?"

"Because you seem to think she'd hold it against you somehow. And I do think if she was going to be mad at someone it'd be me—but honestly, I don't think she'd be mad at all. But I think you'd do better to actually find out than to make assumptions about how she feels. You don't have anyone else to talk to about this, and you might find she's in a unique position to make you feel better."

Blaine considered this. "Well that… would probably require admitting I screwed up and lied in the app to her."

Kurt nodded. "Not comfortable to admit you did something wrong to someone else, huh?"

Blaine made a face. "Not particularly."

Kurt gave Blaine a quick kiss. "Well that's why I tell you and Rachel all the time, better to just behave and not have to," he said with a smile.


	13. Chapter 13

When Blaine got home an hour later, both Mercedes and Sam were out. He didn't like how quiet the apartment was when they were gone; it just felt lonely. It could be hard to study with Sam around because he always wanted to talk or play video games, but the house felt empty without him. _Maybe I should start studying in a library or coffee shop or something. It's not Kurt, but at least I'd be around other human beings._ He thought about his penchant for sugary baked goods and decided maybe coffee shops might be a little dicey right now for his weight loss goals. He sighed and turned on some music, figuring that would help. He settled in his room to start his homework. He had a paper to write about Bertolt Brecht that had been looming large. After he'd typed a couple paragraphs, he got a message on Skype.

 **Hey, call me.**

He smiled, grateful for an excuse not to think about Bertolt Brecht for a moment. He opened Skype and dialed Rachel. The video came up on his screen and he saw that she was in her bathrobe with her hair wrapped up in a towel.

"Winding down already?"

"Yeah I wanted to touch base with you about the plans for Artie's birthday—but I had such an intense rehearsal, I'm beat. All I wanted to do was get home and take a hot bath. Probably going to hit the sack within the hour."

Blaine nodded. "I wish I could do that," he sighed. "I have so much homework tonight."

"That theatre history class is brutal huh?"

Blaine nodded. "I haven't had this much homework for a class since Dalton, maybe not even then."

"Well, I don't want to keep you too long then, lest Kurt accuse me of being a bad influence when you should be studying." Rachel smirked.

Blaine rolled his eyes. "Yeah I guess you have a point there. We'd both get in trouble then. Although I'd probably feel worse about getting you in trouble than I did about getting punished myself."

Rachel smiled. "You're so sweet."  
"Well, it's true. Although it's maybe only half for sweet reasons. I'd feel guilty about getting you in trouble, but I'd also probably feel bad because I'd figure you'd hold it against me."

Rachel laughed. "I guess that makes sense. But you worry too much about me being mad at you."

Blaine sighed, smiling. "Yeah that's more or less what Kurt said to me today."

"You were talking about me?"

"S-sort of." Blaine rubbed the back of his neck with his hand shyly. "I was kind of… in some hot water earlier today."

"Oh my God, did you get a spanking at NYADA?"

"What?! No!" Blaine blurted, horrified. "Why would you even think that?"  
"Kurt has been threatening me with that for a year."

"Are you serious? He couldn't— There's people everywhere there."

Rachel nodded. "He always says the practice rooms are easy to reserve and they're soundproof, so…"

"Oh. Well, I guess that… makes more sense. I thought you meant like… in the middle of the student commons or something. I mean, I don't think he'd really that, though," he said, uncertain. "He just says it to keep you honest."

Rachel shrugged. "Me either. But I'll admit that the idea of it even being an outside possibility has made me… a little more careful about staying in line at school."

"Well then I guess even it's just a threat it sort of… serves his purpose."

"Sorry, I just assumed you got a spanking because you said you were in hot water—I thought you meant you did something you're not supposed to do. And I knew you haven't had time to have been anywhere but school today."

"Well I did do something wrong, I guess. But I didn't get a spanking, although… maybe I kind of should have?" Blaine offered, uncertain.

Rachel was intrigued. "Really? What did you do?"

Blaine fidgeted. "You know how I've been using that app to track my exercise?"

Rachel squinted, vaguely remembering hearing something about it. "Yeah?"

"Well, I'd linked him to my account so he could see my workouts and kind of keep me accountable about it."

Rachel nodded. "That's actually pretty smart. Way less excuse to blow it off that way."

Blaine smiled uneasily. "Yeah that's what I'd been thinking when I did it. And I—really meant to keep up with it."

"So you got scolded for missing a workout?"

"Well, yeah, but more for um, sort of lying about it. In the app, I mean. Like there were a couple times I kind of skipped a workout but put it in the app that I did."

"Ah, and Kurt figured it out?"

Blaine neck felt hot. It was hard to talk about. "…Yeah. He um, considered it lying to him."

Rachel smiled sympathetically. "That sucks. He let it go without any punishment though?"

Blaine shrugged. "He just made me do an extra workout today and let me off with a warning."

Rachel nodded. "Sounds like you dodged a bullet."

Blaine made a face, uncomfortable. "Are you mad I didn't get… punished more?"

Rachel looked at Blaine quizzically. "Why would I be mad?"

"I told him that if you found out you might say he hadn't been as strict with me as he'd probably be with you in the same circumstance."

Rachel laughed. "Well I probably wouldn't be going out of my way to give him the means to monitor my every workout in the first place. Although he probably could ask one of our friends from NYADA if I was blowing off my yoga class, so I guess I practically feel like I've got the same… oversight on that front."

"Well you're trying to stay in shape for your opening night. You asked him to do some… monitoring for you."

"Yeah it's fair, but that doesn't mean I don't get to complain about it." Rachel grinned.

Blaine giggled. "Okay."

"I don't know why you think I'd care how badly you got punished for something though."

"I just… I was there that last time you got caught lying about chores in the loft."

Rachel shuddered. "I was an idiot that day."

"He spanked you with your hairbrush."

"Believe me, I remember."

"I know this is kind of different, but since he said he considered it lying and all… I just would feel bad if you thought I was getting… preferential treatment."

"Blaine. This is your first offense, right? You haven't misrepresented your workouts in this app before now?"  
"W-well no. I just got the app a little over a week ago—"

"Of course he's not going to go overboard the first time you screw up with something. He's firm about rule-following but he's gotta keep something in reserve in case you mess up more later."

Blaine thought this was an odd way of looking at things. "You saying he went easy on me today because he knows I'll mess up worse sometime in the future?"  
Rachel laughed. "Well, I'm rooting for you so I hope not, but odds are good you're not going to be perfect every day. If it's not something completely outrageous, he's going to make a judgment call and give you the benefit of the doubt."

"You've put a lot of thought into this."

"Trying to avoid getting a sore backside encouraged me to learn his patterns," Rachel admitted.

Blaine chuckled. "Well I'm glad you're not resentful about it. I wasn't even going to tell you. I asked Kurt not to mention it."

Rachel shook her head. "We both know the last time he spanked me with the hairbrush it was probably the fourth time he'd said something to me about chores since you first got to New York. I didn't like it, but I can't say I didn't kinda deserve it."

"As I recall you put up a pretty passionate defense about it that night," Blaine teased.

Rachel shrugged. "Well, in the moment, I can't be held responsible for what I say. I'll admit if I did something wrong after, but I hate that hairbrush."

Blaine made a face. "It does look painful. I've never had it, but I'm pretty sure it's even worse than the spoon."

Rachel was thoughtful. "Hmm. Maybe. It's wider and maybe a little heavier? But the once or twice I've seen him swat you with a spoon it looked like it left a pretty good sting."

Blaine looked down, bashful. "It leaves an impression," he conceded.

"I bet."

"I try to avoid it wherever possible."

Rachel nodded. "Yeah somehow whenever I get spanked with the hairbrush just getting a little spanking with his hand seems like nothing. At least until I'm over his knee about to get one."

Blaine sighed. "Maybe someday we'll both mature enough not to warrant any discipline?"

Rachel shrugged. "Maybe."

"It's good to know you're not—comparing."

"I can't say I don't notice, but mostly he's pretty good. I could maybe argue that I think I get punished more often than you, but if I'm honest I'd say that's because I'm not as much of a goody two shoes as you."

"Hey!"

"I mean that with love, of course."

Blaine rubbed his belly. "My whole core is pretty sore. Even if I didn't go over his knee, I'll definitely think twice about being less than honest in the app now."

Rachel nodded. "He always finds a way to make his point and keep tabs on us."

"Speaking of which he'll kill me if I bomb this paper, so I probably should get back to work."

"Oh yes, so Artie's birthday is Thursday but the plan is to do something special for Monday night dinner. Mercedes and I are working on food so you boys are in charge of coming up with a present. No socks! Something thoughtful!"

Blaine giggled. "Well then Kurt's the one you need to talk to there. Sam and I are pretty hopeless at that game."

"Well I'm going to tell Kurt I told you to start brainstorming, so you know he'll be having a 'discussion' with you if you drop the ball." Rachel smirked.

"Hey! Low blow."

"No excuses. Talk to Sam and come up with a list" Rachel barked.

Blaine sighed. "Yes ma'am."


	14. Chapter 14

The next couple weeks were busy. It was the point in the semester when the homework seemed to be piling on and Blaine battled a couple days with minor laryngitis, which rather than provoking sympathy only seemed to bring lectures from the NYADA faculty about proper vocal health routines. In better news, Blaine had been rallying pretty well in the mornings to get his workouts from the app done right before he showered, which had the double benefit of earning him less side-eye from Mercedes and making him feel like he accomplished something before he even walked out the door.

The hardest part of the week was Wednesday-Thursday, when he really started to miss being home with Kurt, and started counting the minutes to when he'd be back at the loft again. He was trying really hard not to text Kurt every time he started to feel that way, figuring he would find it smothering. He really appreciated that Kurt was trying to give them more alone-time on the weekends, too, by scheduling as much of his time at VogueDotCom and the diner during the week as he could. This meant Kurt was working a lot of long hours, but it was worth it, he said, if their together time was really theirs.

Usually on Fridays Blaine got to the loft first and had to wait for Kurt to get out of his internship. Typically he would make dinner, but Kurt had texted him to pick up something from the new Chinese place near the loft and Blaine thought it'd be good to check out something new. While he was there, Rachel texted that she was going to be out late because she was getting drinks with one of her castmates. Blaine smiled reading the text. He loved Rachel, but getting a night of more extended privacy had its appeal. He wondered if she'd planned it that way, knowing he was basically vibrating out of his skin at this point. _I'm so glad it's Friday. This week has lasted forEVER._

As Blaine was bringing the food onto the elevator, he got a text.

 **The magazine shoot hit a snafu. Isabelle is actually crying, I might be awhile.**

Blaine sighed. _Figures_. He texted back, avoiding making any snarky comments about Isabelle monopolizing his date night.

 **I can keep your dinner warm. Xoxo**

He got to the floor and brought the bags of food to the loft. He was starving, but felt like it would be rude to eat anything before Kurt got there. But then he got the next text.

 **You might as well eat. If this goes too long Chase is talking about ordering a pizza. I'm sorry.**

Blaine scowled, annoyed. Looking around the empty loft, he now wished Rachel had been around tonight after all. _At least I wouldn't be stuck all alone._ He opened up the Chinese food and made a plate for himself, leaving Kurt's beef lo mein for him. He felt better when he got some food in him and texted Kurt back.

 **I hope they don't keep you too long, but I understand. Xoxo**

Someday their roles could be reversed, he reasoned. Years from now, maybe, there'd be a time when he landed a role and had to stay late at rehearsal while Kurt had been busy on the audition circuit all day hoping for the next big thing, just wishing he'd come home to him. He indulged the fantasy for a moment. If they were going to be artists, there were going to be ups and downs, he reasoned. Maybe someday he'd come home late and Kurt would be looking to him for a confidence boost like back in high school. He smiled at the idea of Kurt needing him like that, imagining how he'd reassure him that he thinks about him even when he's in rehearsal, telling him he knew how he felt because there were times like tonight when he'd been all by himself and Kurt had been out living the dream.

 _It's silly to sulk over him not being here right on time. Tomorrow we'll have abs class and then most of the weekend together. I can entertain myself for an hour or two._

Finding the prospect of doing homework on a Friday night uninspiring, Blaine finished his dinner and laid out on the couch to watch Netflix. He was half-falling asleep there a couple hours later when the rattle of the loft door opening shuddered him from his slumber.

"Hey," he cooed, finally seeing his very tired looking fiancée at the door.

"Hey," Kurt whispered, hanging his sweater up. "Did I wake you?"

Blaine shook his head, pulling himself up to sitting. "Was waiting for you."

"Rachel asleep?"  
"Nah she's still out with a friend from her show."

Kurt nodded, yawning.

"You should eat," Blaine encouraged, standing to go over to Kurt and give him a kiss.

Kurt smiled into the kiss. "I should. I'm so tired I can barely think." He went over to the cabinet to get a plate for the beef lo mein.

Blaine lightly rubbed Kurt's back as he put together his dinner. "I missed you," he said quietly. Kurt nodded but didn't respond except to stuff his face with a spoonful of food. Blaine sighed quietly. "I guess you've had a long week," he said. "Maybe… you should hit the sack soon."

"Definitely," Kurt muttered, taking another bite of food.

"I'd been… hoping we'd… get some time tonight." Blaine ventured. "That shirt you were wearing in combat today was pretty distracting you know. Was thinking about it the whole ride here."

Kurt chuckled. "Distracting sexually?"

"Yeah, and that senior who keeps flirting with you was definitely distracted by it too."

"Nobody's flirting with me," Kurt dismissed playfully.

"You don't even notice it," Blaine rolled his eyes.

Kurt sighed. He took Blaine's hand on his shoulder. "I know you were hoping we'd get some real alone time tonight."

"I get it, Kurt," Blaine deflected. "You didn't know Isabelle was going to keep you so late."

"Yeah, and I'm just… really wiped tonight." Kurt said pointedly.

"I kinda…figured."

"Rain check?"

Blaine nodded, kissing Kurt's cheek. "Of course. I'm sure I can talk you into messing around later this weekend though, right?"

"Heh. Yeah, you usually don't need to twist my arm there, so I'd say it's a safe bet."

Blaine grinned. "Good. Holdin you to it. I'm gonna take a shower and maybe we can take some extra time in the morning…"

"Oh no, you're not getting out of abs class—no sex until at least after that, mister."

Blaine laughed. "Aah, you caught me. So close."

Kurt swatted at Blaine's butt playfully. "I'm always on to you."

"True," Blaine conceded, grabbing a towel and heading towards the

bathroom.  
"I'm almost finished, so I'll set the alarm and see you in bed?"

"Sure. Love you."

"Love you too."


	15. Chapter 15

Blaine breathed in the steam as the hot water poured over his head. He smiled to himself, remembering the one time that first week Rachel had been at her out-of-town tryouts, and he'd talked Kurt into taking a shower with him. That was before he'd started having all these insecurities about his body, before the semester had started and he and Kurt had gotten overloaded with responsibilities, before all the conflict that led to them deciding he should move out. His hand wandered over his body with the soap, remembering how Kurt had said he thought it was silly at first, but after had agreed that it was probably the hottest thing they'd ever done. It felt like it had been a long time since they'd been that adventurous. Rubbing along his stomach, he wondered if Kurt would think he was looking leaner—he was too shy to ask outright. _I should have taken some measurements or something before I started working out._ He'd lost a couple pounds, but not as much or as quickly as he hoped—although with some of the strength training he'd been doing on Sam's advice, it was possible that was just because he'd added some muscle. It was hard to tell. _Maybe if I was looking better though, Kurt'd have been more interested in sex tonight. Back in high school he'd never have said he was too tired._ Blaine groaned, leaning his head against the shower wall, annoyed with himself. _Why do I even think like that?_ He knew it wasn't fair to hold it against Kurt or to use him wanting to talking it easy tonight as an excuse for a shame spiral. After all, there had definitely been times in the past couple months when Kurt had been interested and he'd avoided intimacy because he was just feeling insecure, and Kurt had been really understanding about all that once they'd talked about it. _I'll feel better tomorrow._

Blaine finished up and got out of the shower, wrapping a towel around his waist. He quietly padded across the loft, seeing that Kurt had turned off the lights. When he got to the bedroom he saw that Kurt was already curled up in bed, his shoulder dimly lit by streetlights shining in through the window. Blaine quietly dug through his drawer and put some boxers on before slipping under the covers and snuggling up against Kurt. Kurt sleepily leaned back against him, his fingers caressing against him for a moment before relaxing again. Blaine pressed a kiss against his cheek and then laid his head down and fell asleep.

"Oh my God Kurt, are you okay?" Rachel's voice woke Blaine several hours later, and he blinked in a sleepy startled haze.

There was a groan and then Kurt's voice, muffled, muttlering a weak "Yeah, No- I'm f- I—Oh God—" and then the unmistakeable sound of someone vomiting shook Blaine to sitting in bed.

"…Y-you need help?" Rachel was timidly asking.

There was a cough, and a sharp "No!" and Blaine was on his feet, rushing across the loft.

"Is he okay?"

Rachel shook her head. "Doesn't sound like it," she muttered.

"I'm fine." Kurt called back through the door.

Blaine knocked. "Kurt? Let me in."

Kurt groaned from the other side of the door. "I'm fine. Go back to bed."

"D-do you need… some towels or something?"

There was a pause. Then, quieter. "…Maybe a couple."  
Blaine's heart broke, hearing Kurt sound so weak and miserable. "I'll go get some, " he assured, "Hold on—"

He rushed back to their side of the loft and pulled out several towels from the linens drawer. When he came back, he heard the sound of running water, followed by the sound of more vomiting and some muttered cursing.

Blaine knocked again. "C-can I come in? I've got some towels for you?" he glanced back at Rachel, still standing in her pajamas looking grossed out.

There was what sounded like a whimper. "Can you… just leave them outside the door? I'm—I'll be alright. Just go back to bed, okay?"

Blaine glanced at Rachel, who shrugged. He was sort of hurt that Kurt didn't want him to come in— _I've seen you naked a hundred times before for God's sake_ —but he also got that he was probably sort of embarrassed. "O-of course Kurt. They're—they're right here, by the door. J-just let us know if you need us."  
"Feel better, Kurt," Rachel offered.

"Yeah, feel better."

Blaine placed a pile of towels by the bathroom door, and sort of sheepishly stepped away.

"Y-you think he'll be okay?" Rachel whispered.

Blaine shrugged, uncertain. "Sounds like a stomach bug."

"Ugh, I can't get sick. We're going to have to sanitize this whole place tomorrow. But you two share a bed—if you get it too, I swear I'm gonna have to move in with Elliot again. I can't risk it."

Blaine nodded, but his eyes stopped on the refrigerator a second. "The Chinese food."

"What?"

"We got Chinese food from a new place—I feel fine, but I didn't eat any of the beef lo mein, that was all Kurt."

"Gross, reason number 87 I'm a vegetarian."

Blaine grimaced and opened the refrigerator, and there were the leftovers Kurt had put back on the first shelf. The carton of beef lo mein was about three-quarters empty. Blaine blanched, tossing it into the garbage. "Guess we're never eating there again."

"Guess not." Rachel shook her head and tiptoed without further comment, back to her side of the loft.

Blaine hesitated for moment and looked back at the bathroom door, but then decided to pad back to the bedroom. He sat on the bed and listened. After a minute or two he heard the creak of the door open and then close again. He sighed. _Poor Kurt._ He felt sort of vaguely guilty because he'd picked up the food, as though he somehow should have known it was going to make his fiancé sick.

Blaine laid down and pulled the covers back over him, feeling like it was probably best to respect Kurt's wishes. But he wouldn't—couldn't—just go back to sleep. He waited, listening to hear if the sound of vomiting started again. It didn't, thankfully. All he could hear was the rumble of the New York streets outside, interrupted occasionally by more running water.

Finally, after what seemed like a very long time, the door slowly creaked open. Blaine could hear Kurt's footsteps coming closer, and the swish of the privacy curtain opening back up. He heard Kurt sigh behind him, and he slowly turned over to look at him.

"I was hoping you'd be asleep," Kurt admitted.

"Was worried about you." Blaine said simply.

"I'll live," Kurt muttered, crossing to the other side of the bed and getting under the covers.

Blaine reached up to touch Kurt's shoulder. "Think it was the Chinese food?"

"Huh. Maybe. Just woke up I thought maybe some kind of stomach virus but that makes sense. Whatever it is, it sucks," he shared grimly.

Blaine caressed Kurt's forehead, which dripped with sweat. "You don't feel warm at least. Don't think you have a fever."

"Hmm. Guess that's something."

"If it's food poisoning it'll probably just be a 24 hour thing," Blaine offered, trying to find something positive to say as he rubbed Kurt's back. "And it won't be catching so Rachel won't put the whole loft on quarantine lockdown," he joked.

Kurt turned over towards Blaine with a sigh. "Can I ask you to… do me a favor?"

Blaine sat up. "You need a drink of water?"

"…No. I was going to ask… uh, if you'd mind… sleeping on the couch?"

"…Oh."

"It's just… if I threw up again, and I didn't make it to the bathroom—I'd feel bad and…" Kurt trailed off.

"Of—of course. I can… uh, I understand."

"I don't mean to be—" Kurt faltered.

Blaine got up out of bed. "You need to rest. I'll—I'll be fine."

"I love you."

"I love you too. Just—just call out if you need anything, okay?"

"I will."

Blaine dug through the linens drawer and found the blanket Sam always used to use when he slept over. He quietly made his way over to the couch. _Not exactly the romantic start to my weekend I was hoping for._ He sighed ,curled up with the blanket, and fell back to sleep.


	16. Chapter 16

Blaine blinked awake at the sound of Rachel doing vocal warm-ups several hours later. He had a moment of not being sure where he was and rubbed at his eyes.

"Rachel, please, stop!" Kurt whined from behind him in their bedroom.

Blaine sat up. _Kurt_. He shoved off the blanket and went back into the bedroom.

"Sorry Kurt," Rachel was yelling back from the kitchen. "I wasn't thinking, but I've got a shift at the diner and you know Rupert expects me to be able to burst into song, I can't take a chance on wrecking my voice with my opening night coming up."

As Blaine opened the privacy curtain, he saw Kurt lifting his pillow over his head and holding it over his ear.

"Still sick?" Blaine asked gently. "What can I do?"

"Make her shut up." Kurt whimpered, from under his pillow without turning around.

Blaine went back into the kitchen. "I think he's still feeling pretty bad," he whispered. "We should probably keep it down."

Rachel rolled her eyes, grabbing her purse. "I'd stand clear," she warned. "He's a jerk when he's sick."

Blaine smiled confidently. "I can handle it."

Rachel shrugged. "I'll be at the diner. Text me if you need anything."

Blaine watched her leave and then set about preparing breakfast for Kurt. He figured he should steer away from anything too spicy, so he made some plain scrambled eggs and oatmeal. For a beverage, he made some hot tea. _Later I'll make him some chicken noodle soup, like my mom always used to make when I was sick._ _He'll be better in no time._ He hummed to himself, happy to have a job to do.

Just as he was pouring the tea into a mug to place in the breakfast tray, Kurt appeared in the kitchen. He was slumped a bit, and wisps of his hair were astray.

"Hey," Blaine smiled, "I was just making you—"

"Yeah, I heard," Kurt gruffed.

Blaine's eyes widened. "Was I too noisy?"

Kurt shook his head. "You and all of Bushwick. First I'm putting up with you making all this noise with pots and pans and then the traffic just wouldn't shut up."

"I'm sorry Kurt I was just—"

"Whatever, I feel like hell," Kurt dismissed, brushing past Blaine to the bathroom.

Blaine shrunk into himself, watching Kurt close the door behind him. He really hadn't thought he'd made that much noise. He busied himself, setting the last of Kurt's breakfast on the tray.

After a minute, he got a little worried and knocked on the door.

"Kurt?"

"…yes?"

"I was just… are you okay?"

"Yes. God." Kurt said, sounding irritated.

Blaine sighed, hearing the sound of the water running. "J-just wanted to be sure… You need more towels?"

The door opened suddenly. "I'm fine," Kurt said curtly.

Blaine pursed his lips. "I was just asking because—"

"I know," Kurt stopped him, putting his hand up. "But that does remind me," he said bitterly. He crossed the loft and grabbed the laundry basket.

"What are you doing?" Blaine asked.

"What does it look like? Taking this downstairs."

"Kurt, you're sick, I can take the laundry—"

"The towels in here are soaked in my bodily fluids, Blaine," Kurt spat. "Forgive me if I'd rather do it myself."

"Everyone gets sick, Kurt. Let me—"

"I'm a grown up and I can take care of it myself."

"I wasn't saying you weren't—"

"Well then stop babying me." Kurt went through a drawer and grabbed a roll of quarters.

"No one's babying you," Blaine replied, getting exasperated. He put his hand on the laundry basket. "All I'm trying to—"

Kurt pulled the laundry basket back towards his chest. "I said I can—" Kurt stopped short, sort of bending into himself for a moment.

"…Are… are you…" Blaine quietly ventured.

Kurt put a hand up, then dropped the laundry basket, and rushed back towards the bathroom, barely making it to the toilet.

Blaine grimaced as he heard Kurt throwing up. It was hard to listen to. He went to the counter and poured a glass of water and then lingered by the bathroom door. Kurt was on his knees, vomit that hadn't quite met its target still on his hand. Sweat dripped from his forehead. He looked small and embarrassed, not looking at Blaine.

"Drink this," Blaine offered, walking on pins and needles the few steps to place the cup of water next to his fiancé.

"…thank you," Kurt finally replied.

Blaine put a hand on Kurt's back. "I wish I could make you feel better. I made scrambled eggs, maybe—"

"Oh my God don't talk about food—" Kurt blurted, before another rush of vomit poured suddenly from him and he pulled away to get it into the toilet.

Blaine grimaced. There was a long pause. "Guess we're not going to abs class today," he said lightly, trying feebly to make a joke? of some sort.

Kurt sipped the water by his side before wiping his sleeve against his mouth, and steadying himself up to standing. "Heh. No." he said, mustering his strength. He put the cup down on the sink counter, grimacing at his reflection in the mirror. He then ran the water over his hands, washing them and then his face. "Well I'm not," he said thoughtfully. "You should still go."

"I'm not leaving you like this," Blaine objected.

"It's food poisoning, Blaine, it's not like I'm dying." Kurt muttered, rolling his eyes.

"Don't talk like that."

"I'm probably going to sleep half the day, eat crackers for dinner, be back in bed and fine by tomorrow."

"You're so stubborn sometimes," Blaine said ruefully.

"You made a commitment to that class and I'm not going to let you get out of it." Kurt replied evenly, pushing past his fiancé with the water.

Blaine was sort of offended. "I'm not trying to get out of going to class! You're sick! I just want to take care of you."

"Nothing in our agreement about that class said you get to miss it to sit here and watch me sleep." Kurt pronounced, unbuttoning his soiled pajama shirt and tossing it into the laundry basket.

"I can't believe you're pushing this, now."

"Seems to me you asked me to push these things," Kurt dismissed, heading back to the bedroom.

Blaine groaned, following him. "You're ridiculous. Everyone gets sick, you don't have to be embarrassed. It could just as easily have been me. It's just luck I didn't have the beef lo mein!"

Kurt ignored that as he dug a t-shirt out of a drawer and haphazardly put it on. He sat on the bed and then looked back up at Blaine evenly. "You're going to your class. That's an order."

Blaine pursed his lips, but relented. "…yes, sir."

Kurt nodded and got back under his covers.

Blaine sighed and set about changing into his workout clothes. "I'll be back by 11, 11:30 if the trains are delayed again. …You want me to bring you anything?" he asked at last.

Kurt sighed and turned over in bed to look at Blaine. "It's… not like you're going to be wanting to ravage me later like this," Kurt said, bitterly gesturing towards himself.

Blaine smiled and sat down on the bed next to Kurt. "You know I always want to do that."

Kurt rolled his eyes. "Heh. Well, as comforting as it is to know you have such low standards, I'm thinking it's unlikely I'll be in the mood for all that later."

"I know. It's okay."

"You might as well go back to Sam and Mercedes, honestly."

Blaine blinked. "… What?"  
"You're going to go all the way to the NYADA gym, you might as well get off at their stop, it's closer."

"But it's the weekend."

"You'll be happier sleeping in your own bed than ending up on the couch again if I'm still sick."

"N-no, I won't."

"Blaine—"

"I won't!"

Kurt sighed. "You're being childish. I just need to sleep this off, and you know I'm just going to be crabby anyway. I'll bite your head off, you'll be oversensitive and we'll have a big fight over nothing—it's not worth it."

"You're throwing me out."

Kurt groaned. "This is what I'm talking about. Don't be so dramatic."

"I don't care if we're not having sex today, it's about spending time together."

"You know I'm right. You're not getting any quality time with me while I'm like this, so what's the point?"

"Well that's because you won't let anyone take care of you," Blaine responded resentfully. "What are we supposed to do when we're married? Are we going to need to budget for an extra apartment in case you catch a cold or something."

Kurt rubbed at his forehead. "I don't know! Blaine, I'm just- I'm trying to be nice here."

"Yeah, nice. All I did was make you breakfast and try to make you feel better. I thought that was nice. I thought that's what someone in a relationship does for someone else, but if you don't appreciate it, fine." Blaine opened the privacy curtain and stormed over to the kitchen to get his water bottle. He took his coat off the coat rack and slipped into some shoes. He noted that Kurt didn't argue back or follow.

"Not for nothing," Blaine called across the loft, "but we both know you'd never put up with me talking to you like you've been talking to me all morning." And with that, he left, sliding the door behind him.


	17. Chapter 17

Blaine stomped most of the way from the loft out to the street, his head buzzing with replays of his interaction with Kurt this morning. He couldn't believe he was telling him to go back to Mercedes place. Well, technically that was his place, but he still thought of it like it was mainly Mercedes place. And the agreement was that he'd be at the loft on the weekends, wasn't it? _Kurt's ridiculous._ _What's he gonna do when we get married, cut the whole sickness and health part from the ceremony? It's not like food poisoning's catching or anything._

Blaine continued to stew on his anger and feel sorry for himself as he walked to the subway. When he got to the entrance, he took out his phone and texted Rachel.

 **For the record, you were right. I should have stood clear.**

He pouted there on the corner for a moment. He wished Rachel were there. She was likely all ready at the diner, he supposed. _Ugh_. She'd know how to make him feel better. He could rant and rave about how outrageous it was to be thrown out, and she'd tell him how right he was and not to listen to Kurt when he was like that. He leaned against a poll, watching people bustling in and out of the subway station. The rage dissipated after a minute or two, and all that was left was a gnawing sense of hurt. If he was honest with himself, he could admit that he understood Kurt's embarrassment. He remembered the first time Kurt had heard him throw up from behind a door after he'd been drunk. He'd wanted to crawl up in a hole somewhere that morning. _But he shouldn't get to be like_ _that_ _about it. It's not an excuse. When I was being a jerk after I had the eye surgery he still expected me to have…basic manners._

Blaine checked his watch. If he was going to get to class on time, he'd need to get on the subway. He sighed and headed down the stairs. He wasn't exactly in a mood for a workout, even though he knew when he was feeling down like this he usually felt better after. As he got in the crowded train, he thought of things that could do after class. _I could go walking around the city, go to Central Park, maybe? If I have to go back to my place later anyway, I could see what Sam's up to. Hopefully he doesn't think I'm monopolizing his Mercedes time… I could check out the TCKTS booth in Time Square and see if there's any good deals. I don't have to see everything with Kurt, especially if he's telling me he doesn't even want me around today._

By the time the train got to the stop right before the NYADA gym, Blaine was thinking about how a day in the city was just what he needed. He stood up to let an older woman sit in his place on the train and leaned against a pole, studying the subway map on the wall. It wasn't that many stops after the gym to get to Time Square. The longer he thought about it, the less he felt like working out. And the sooner he got to the discount booth, he reasoned, the better chance he'd have of finding a good deal. _If Kurt's not even going to be at class this morning, it's not like he'd even know. One class isn't going to make or break my fitness goals._

The train stopped and the door opened. Blaine looked at it for a second and the woman he'd let sit down tapped on his shoulder.

"You going?" she asked.

"Oh. Uh, no—sorry," he muttered, moving out of the way.

She brushed past him with several others behind. Blaine watched the doors close and felt the subtle jolt beneath his feet as the train started moving further uptown.


	18. Chapter 18

As the train moved from stop to stop, Blaine felt a mixture of relief and guilt. He thought about whether he should get off the next stop and go back. But then he thought ruefully that he deserved this after what he'd tolerated this morning. _I was ready to wait on him hand and foot,_ he told himself _. He doesn't want that? Well,_ _fine_ _. Then he doesn't get to tell me_ _everything_ _I should do, either... He's never going to even know about it anyway._

When he got to Time Square he deftly moved amongst the tourists and passersby, making a beeline for the TCKTS booth. He didn't really know what he wanted to see, but he was determined to find something good, thinking it would turn his day around. When he'd first gotten to New York, Blaine had been dazzled by Time Square, wanting to go there all the time. Kurt had finally had to firmly remind him that they had to consider the budget and limit the amount of money they spent there. Most of the time Blaine was happy just to be there, even if he wasn't spending any money. Sam always complained about the noise and smell of the city, but there was something calming about walking around in it for Blaine.

He was in line at the TCKTS booth when his phone buzzed with a text from Rachel.

 **Ouch. Sorry to hear that. Hope he didn't bite your head off. I'll be home later. Happy to yell at him if you need me to.**

He smiled at Rachel's words. He texted back.

 **I don't think that's necessary, but I appreciate the offer. Now stop texting at work or you're going to get in trouble. ;-)**

Blaine looked over the options and felt that, despite their impasse of the moment, he couldn't in good conscience see any major musical without Kurt . That left some plays, several of which had some pretty sweet discounts. He chose one he'd never heard of and bought a ticket for one. It was sort of exciting to just take a chance on something. But as he handed over the money, the sense of guilt returned. _Kurt thinks I'm at my class right now…_

He wondered if Kurt had fallen right back asleep after he'd left. He hoped he hadn't throw up again at least. He hoped he'd eventually eat some of the breakfast he'd made, when he woke up later. Food would help him to get his strength back. Blaine shook himself then, reminding himself he was supposed to be mad at Kurt and shouldn't be occupied with worrying about him. After all, Kurt himself had rebuffed his support as smothering. _He told me to leave him be._ _If he's hungry he'll eat. And Rachel'll be back at the loft later, anyhow. She'd call if he really needed anything._

Resolved, Blaine took the tickets and walked around the city a bit as he waited for the matinee time to come by. He people-watched a bit until he got hungry, and then got an inordinately over-priced sandwich at a deli. He stubbornly refused to think what Kurt would have to say about spending so much money on a sandwich and then ate it as he walked all the way to Central Park, climbing up on a hill there and just watching the world go by. He realized it'd been a long time since he'd done that—just sat in a green space and been still. School was filled with hectic times and just being in New York was one crowded subway of frenetic energy after another. _I should do this more often._

Finally, the time for the matinee came close and he headed back towards the Theatre District. The theatre seemed full of tourists, but he didn't mind. He was in New York, a real live grown up spending his own money on an off-Broadway show, having a day in the city like he'd been dreaming about for so long last year. _Kurt'll come around when he feels better. I_ _am_ _oversensitive sometimes, I guess._

The show was heady and confusing at times, and by intermission Blaine was half-wondering if he'd had enough of this experience and should just head home. But he'd spent money on these tickets, he reasoned, and he also felt like it'd be a bit rude to just leave during intermission. Luckily, the second act was better and by the end Blaine was glad he went. It was a really interesting show, different from the type of show he usually saw, and kind of wished he had someone to talk about it with now.

As he got out of the theatre he checked his phone, hoping to see a message from Kurt saying he'd changed his mind and wanted him to come back to the loft. But there were no messages at all. Maybe he'd been asleep all this time? Blaine sighed. _He is sick, after all._ He texted Rachel.

 **Hey. I'm going back to Mercedes' place. Do me a favor and text me how he's doing?**

A few seconds later Rachel replied. **Won't be back for another couple hours, but will definitely text and let you know if he's civilized again yet.**

Blaine smiled. It was nice knowing Rachel had his back. He was less mad at Kurt now that he'd had some time away. It was stupid that he didn't want him to come back to the loft, but it wasn't worth obsessing over it. He'd managed to have an okay day all on his own in the city. _If that's what Kurt really wants today, all I can do is make the best of it._


	19. Chapter 19

When Rachel got home, Kurt was on his laptop at the kitchen table, working on his theatre history paper.

"Feeling better?" she asked.

"So much," Kurt replied cheerily as he typed.

"Good, because I won't feel guilty yelling at you then," Rachel smirked.

Kurt stopped typing and looked up. "What did I do?"

"Blaine texted me this morning."

Kurt made a face. "He… was mad?" he ventured.

"I assume you were talking to him the way you talk to me when you're sick? Yeah, I'd say he's mad."

"It's not… really your concern," he defended half-heartedly. "I'll call him in a bit," he added meekly. He hadn't thought about it much, but it didn't surprise him that Blaine had complained to Rachel. He didn't think he'd been unreasonable, but now that he didn't feel completely awful, he could admit he'd probably been a bit pushy this morning.

"I promised him I'd tell you off on his behalf. Tell me you don't deserve it," Rachel challenged.

Kurt sighed, resigned. "I may have bitten his head off a bit this morning," Kurt conceded. "In my defense, I was vomiting again through at least part of it."

Rachel rolled her eyes. "You should just provide Blaine and me with hotel vouchers when you're sick."

Kurt squirmed for a second. "Well I kinda did. I told him he should just crash at his place tonight."

"Wait. You threw him out?"  
"No. I just… strongly suggested it was the best idea," Kurt hedged. "Where'd you think he was?"

"I don't know, out. I thought he was just keeping his distance. I didn't think you threw him out."

"Come on, stop being so dramatic. I didn't throw anyone out, I just… pointed out that he'd be happier this weekend without having to put up with my bedside manner in this condition."

Rachel crossed her arms. "And how'd you expect him to take that?"

"I—I don't know. I was… pretty focused on taking care of myself at that point. And yeah, he got mad and sort of stormed out, but that was sort of what I'd been saying—that he should leave…so…I kind of just hit the sack after that and forgot about it."

"He's been out all day then?"

"He went to his workout class. Probably worked off all his rage at me there and is over it. I'm sure he just met up with Sam somewhere after, he's probably fine."

"You're an idiot."

Kurt sat up a little taller. "I thought we had an agreement about how you talk to me, young lady."

Rachel rolled her eyes, unfased. "Not when you're being an idiot."

"Rachel. Blaine's fine, it was just a little fight—"

"That you started. You know I'm right, so stop arguing with me. Call your fiancé and apologize," Rachel added, pointedly picking up Kurt's phone from the kitchen table and shoving it into his hand.

Kurt shrunk into himself a moment. He stared at the phone, trying to think of some argument as to why he was right and why he shouldn't have to do what Rachel said just because she thought she could boss him around. But that sounded pretty childish in his head, and he was pretty sure it would sound even more childish out loud, so he kept it to himself. She was right that Blaine was unlikely to have just gotten over being mad at him, and in retrospect the optics of asking someone who made you breakfast while you were sick to leave were pretty shaky.

"Okay, Rachel." Kurt said, resigned. He dialed Blaine's number.


	20. Chapter 20

When Blaine got back to his place, there was no sign of Mercedes or Sam. He wondered if they were out together. He texted Sam.

 **Hey, when you coming home tonight?**

As he sent the text he realized that Sam would wonder why he was asking, so he sent another.

 **Long story, Kurt's sick, so crashing at home tonight instead of the loft.**

As he sent the second text, it occurred to Blaine that Sam and Mercedes probably looked forward to weekends together at home the way he looked forward to weekends at the loft with Kurt. _Maybe they'll be annoyed I'm back when they were expecting a roommate-free night. They'd be too polite to say so, but… Ugh._ He had been trying to think positively about the circumstances, and now he felt worse. He went to the kitchen to look for a snack, hoping to find something in the realm of comfort food.

A minute or two later, Sam texted back.

 **That sucks bro. Hope you didn't bring back anything catching. We're about to see a movie then late dinner probably. Won't be back for a few hours at least.**

Blaine sighed. On the one hand he didn't have to worry that he was somehow going to disrupt their plans; they were already out. On the other hand, it meant he was going to be all by his lonesome tonight. Resigned, he pulled out some leftovers from the fridge to try to cobble together some dinner.

About an hour later he was on the couch, watching tv and chewing on the last of those leftovers, when his phone rang. His mom often called to Skype on Saturdays and he really didn't want to deal with her asking questions about where Kurt was or how his weekend was going when the answer was not great. Figuring it was her, he let it go to voicemail and finished watching _Dancing With the Stars_.

When the show was over, he took time to wash the dishes and clean up before he went back to the living room and picked up his phone. _Fuck._ If he'd known Kurt was calling he'd have picked up. He listened to the voicemail.

"Hey, I'm hoping you're not picking up because you're out and about with Sam or something… But give me a call when you get a chance? Love you."

Blaine smiled just hearing Kurt say he loved him. He dialed back. Kurt picked up on the first ring.

"Hey."

"Hey."

There was a pause.

"Is… everything okay? Sorry I didn't get the call before-" Blaine asked.

"Yeah, I thought you were busy with Sam or something."

"N-no. Sam and Mercedes went out. I'm just… home. Are you… feeling any better?"

"Yeah, I slept basically the whole morning. Not at full speed yet, but able to get some homework done."

"Well that's…good, I guess."

Kurt sighed. "I guess I… sort of owe you an apology."

Blaine blinked, surprised.

"You do?"

"About this morning."

"I know you were sick." Blaine reassured automatically.

"I know. I just—Rachel pointed out that…um…" Kurt trailed off.

"You talked to Rachel?"

"She said you were kind of mad."

"Well. I was before. Not… as much anymore."

"I didn't mean to make you feel… unwanted or anything. I just… only like other people in certain doses when I'm healthy and when I'm sick… well, sometimes I'd just prefer to be alone. But I didn't mean to snap at you and… I see how asking you to leave wasn't exactly nice."

Blaine took a breath. He hadn't expected Kurt to apologize for all of this, but there was something he couldn't let go. "You said- that I was being childish."

Kurt sighed. "That wasn't… my finest moment," he admitted. "And I know I made you go to that abs class all by yourself when it was supposed to be our thing together, but I promise as soon as I've got more than 24 hours of eating solid food down I'll make it up by doing extra workouts on that crazy app of yours, whatever you want."

Blaine chuckled. "Only if you Skype with me when you're all sweaty after your workout. Then I can enjoy the view," he teased.

Kurt rolled his eyes, smiling. "I'll never understand how you think it's sexy when I'm all sweaty and gross. But I'll take my shirt off and everything."

"Deal."

"So you… forgive me?"

"I was mad before, and sort of—hurt about it. But I actually had kind of a decent afternoon in the city, and I—I get it. But I do appreciate you saying sorry."

"I know I'm not always the best at… apologizing." Kurt conceded.

Blaine smiled. "You're doing fine."

"So Amy work you hard this morning?"

"Amy?"

"At class."

"Oh! Y-yeah. It- wasn't quite as bad as last time though."

"You must be sore."

"Uh- a little, I guess," Blaine hedged.

"I'm going to totally feel guilty for missing it when I see her in Acting with the Camera class on Monday."

"Oh—I… I wouldn't worry about that. I told her you weren't feeling well, she understands."

"I don't know where she gets all that energy to do that job. I heard she teaches like 12 aerobics classes a week."

"Ugh. Makes me feel lazy just thinking about it."

"So I'm sorry I… kinda ruined our weekend time together."

"It's okay Kurt, you already apologized."

"I'm not going to make you come all the way back out here tonight, but if you want maybe we could meet up for lunch tomorrow and catch a movie? And maybe you could sleep over again after Monday night dinner?"

"I'd love that."

"I'm sorry I'm kind of a jerk sometimes."

"Wow, Rachel must have read you the Riot Act," Blaine teased.

"Something like that. But she was right. I'm just not used to having to make amends, I guess? The arrangement here kind of puts me in a position of… evaluating what everybody else is doing wrong most of the time. It's sort of humbling, having the shoe on the other foot. I was honestly pretty defensive about it when Rachel first brought it up, but now, I just… feel guilty."

"Nobody's perfect."

"I'll make it up to you. You were right that if you or Rachel had been that snippy with me I'd probably have been swatting your backsides."

"Well I guess that's an option but I think that would feel kind of weird, to be on the other side of things," Blaine chuckled.

"Hmm, I see what you mean."

"Just don't let it happen again, mister," Blaine joked.

Kurt giggled. "Next time I'm deathly ill I'll try to remember my manners better."

"Yeah probably a good idea. I might find it awkward putting you over my knee but you never know what Rachel's capable of."

"Good point."

"So you're eating?"

"Soup."

"That's a good start. Honestly if you're not in top shape tomorrow I'll understand, Kurt. You don't have to push yourself."

"I'll call you in the morning, but I think I'll be okay. I want to see you."

Blaine smiled, happy to hear that. "Okay, take care of yourself. And if Rachel keeps scolding you, just remember to nod and say, "yes ma'am," a lot."

Kurt laughed. "Good advice."

"Well, I've been in trouble a few times before. I'll show you the ropes."

"Thanks."  
"Have a good night."

"You too. I love you."

"Love you too."


	21. Chapter 21

Kurt put down his phone and looked up at Rachel.

"Satisfied?" he asked.

Rachel shook her head. "He's too easy on you."

Kurt sighed. "I apologized, okay? He's fine. We're going out tomorrow. It's over. Are we done with the lecture?"

"About this, yes. If Blaine's going to let you off that easy, I guess there's nothing I can do about it. But now that that's taken care of, I was just wondering if someone did the vacuuming today?"

"The… Rachel, I was sick!"

"And when have you ever let me not feeling well be an excuse for not keeping up with chores around here?"

"If you were throwing up, I would! You know you get a paper cut and act like you can't wash dishes all of a sudden. Come on."

"Uh huh. Well it seems to me you've told me more than once that chores were chores, whether I felt like doing them or not."

Kurt rolled his eyes. "I think if you want to go to toe to toe over chores the record will show that I get them done on time a whole lot more often than you do."

"Not today," Rachel countered, with a smug smile.

"You don't think it's a bit unreasonable to act like I was shirking responsibilities? You saw how I was last night. I've only been brave enough to touch solid food in the past 90 minutes or so!"

"I think you hold Blaine and me to some pretty high standards."

"Maybe, but it's not like I started doing that all on my own! You've both asked me to."

"Sure, but if we're going to get disciplined for not measuring up, I don't think it's fair for you to make be making excuses—"

"Making excuses?!" Kurt blurted, incredulous.

"—For not even meeting the bar yourself." Rachel continued, "I was sleeping on my stomach the last time I blew off vacuuming, so you can be sure I notice if you didn't."

Kurt bit his lip. He didn't like it, but he didn't have a good argument against this. He hadn't even given chores a thought and was pretty sure he'd have given Rachel a pass in similar circumstances, but he didn't have any good way to prove it. "Yes, ma'am," he muttered, relenting with a sigh. "I'll take care of it." He got up and headed for the closet to pull out the vacuum cleaner.

The next day, Blaine met Kurt at a diner near the subway station by the loft.

"Feeling better?" Blaine asked, kissing Kurt on the cheek.

"Like 75%?" Kurt mused. "Not quite up to full energy, but a whole lot more than I was before. And I can eat again."

"Well, progress is good."

"Oh, get this. Rachel made me do the vacuuming last night, can you believe that?"  
"Wait, what?"  
"She's on a power trip now. I admitted she was right about things with you yesterday, and now her head's so big about it, it's ridiculous. Then this morning she made a big deal of checking the chore chart before I left and asking when I was planning on taking out the garbage like I'm some little kid."  
Blaine chuckled. "Well, making you vacuum when you're not feeling well is a little harsh, but it sounds like she's just giving you a taste of your own medicine."

"Well, it's annoying," Kurt crabbed.

"Not for nothing, but I was there the last time she didn't vacuum."

Kurt's forehead wrinkled. "You were?"  
"You don't even remember? Maybe a week or two before I moved out? You called a house meeting that night? You weren't exactly super sympathetic to her excuses— I've been in New York long enough to have seen her in trouble quite a few times now but that was definitely aong the worst yet."

"That was totally different!" Kurt argued, remembering now. "It was at least the third time she'd blown off chores that month."

"I'm not saying it was wrong, I'm just saying you were pretty… uh, thorough."

Kurt shook his head. "She admitted she deserved it, afterwards!"

"I'd guess she'd have said whatever you wanted to hear after that," Blaine muttered.

"What's that supposed to mean, you don't think she meant it?"  
"No, of course she meant it, I'm just saying she wasn't going to forget about it anytime soon." Blaine said, lowering his voice, "You and I both know she's never quite so… remorseful as she is after the hairbrush comes out. I know you think she's dramatic sometimes about her punishments, but you have to know the brush hurts quite a bit."

Kurt shrugged. "That's what it's for. It gets her attention when nothing else will. Even if she complains about it, we all know she wants to be disciplined when she's really out of line, or she never would have asked for this arrangement in the first place."

"Sure, and I'm sure she learned her lesson there. I'm not telling you you did anything she hasn't agreed to. But, after all that, you can't really blame her for nudging you the first chance she catches you not on top of vacuuming yourself, or anything else you'd hold her to account for. It's just human."

"So I don't get to have an off day?"

"You can, you just don't get to get away with not getting called on it," Blaine teased.

Kurt smiled. "I guess that's fair. Like say, if I hadn't been sick and just blown off class yesterday, I'd say you'd be in your rights to give me a talking to seeing as if the roles were reversed you'd be taken to a woodshed."

Blaine smiled uneasily. "Ex-exactly."

"Speaking of which, assuming I'm back to feeling more myself tomorrow, I was thinking maybe we can get the exercises off the app out of the way before Monday night dinner and not have them hanging over our heads after."

"…Sure. If you're feeling up to it, though—I don't want you to push yourself. After all this was sort of my thing."

"No, I want to. It's good for me too. Honestly, I'd get them done in the morning if I could, but it's always the last thing I think of on my way out the door."

"Me too."

"Too bad Amy doesn't live near either of us to stop by in the mornings. She has a way of pushing a person to perform better. They must teach that in aerobics instructor school."

"Oh yeah," Blaine agreed. "Y-yesterday my body was totally ready to give out after the fortieth or fiftieth set of sit-ups but she just stared me down and I kept going."

"Good boy." Kurt praised. "I hope no one in the class thought I was a slacker for not showing up yesterday. Gossip travels fast at NYADA—I don't want that to be my reputation."

Blaine chewed his lip. "Of- of course not. I told you, I explained to Amy. And everybody asked how you were—"

"They did?"  
"Y-yeah. I mean, not like it stood out or anything, just—people are used to

seeing us kind of joined at the hip."

Kurt nodded. "I have to say I do feel a little guilty for not going."

"Y-you were sick. You were in no shape to-"

"I know, but that class isn't exactly fun or easy for you, and it's easier to do when we're together at least… it's a way to support you. Being on your own must have made it harder." Kurt was thoughtful. "Maybe I should have just given you the morning off."

Blaine fidgeted. "W-well that's… sweet of you to say, but you were right that I… feel better after I go. Even if Amy is kind of a taskmaster sometimes."

Kurt smiled. "Well that's good. At least I did something sort of right yesterday then. You've hardly even complained about being sore this time- last week it seemed like it took more out of you. Doing the mini workouts during the week must be helping. Your endurance is getting better."

"Oh well… I don't know, maybe." Blaine hedged. "I took a pretty long hot shower at the NYADA gym after. Seemed to ease my muscles, a bit. That probably accounts for it as much as anything."

Kurt nodded. "So you think Rachel's going to milk this for awhile?"

"Heh, could be," Blaine chuckled, privately relieved for the shift in topic. But it's good for you. Maybe it'll make you more understanding next time she and I find ourselves in trouble." He looked down at his menu.

"Hmm, maybe," Kurt conceded playfully. "Just my luck that the week I'm eating humble pie you two've decided to be angels for once."


	22. Chapter 22

Blaine was feeling guilty. He really tried not to be dishonest with Kurt when he could help it. After lunch they went out to a movie, and as they held hands in the theatre in the dark, his mind kept wandering back to yesterday's events. He wondered if he should just confess. If he just had yesterday on the phone, Kurt would probably have been fairly lenient about it, he figured. Maybe he'd have even said it was understandable under the circumstances and let him off with a warning if he promised not to let it happen again. But now he'd lied about it a couple times and… well, lying was usually a big deal to Kurt. If he confessed now it was hard to imagine Kurt would say he'd let the lying go without any punishment. Rachel would probably even be on Kurt's side there, he figured, as it made her crazy if she thought Kurt was going easier on him than he would on her. If Rachel directly defied an order like that and then covered it up with lies she'd definitely get a spanking-it had happened many times before. Yesterday he'd felt justified—mostly. Today he wished he had just gone to his abs class like he was supposed to—or the very least admitted to blowing it off outright. _He's never going to find out, let it go…_ He tried to focus on the movie.

It didn't help that Kurt seemed to be trying to be extra nice today. On the way out of the theatre they held hands and Kurt leaned close to him.

"I'm glad we're not fighting anymore. I'm really sorry about yesterday."

"I know," Blaine assured. "I wish it hadn't happened, but I'm over it now, honest." It was easier to be blasé about his indiscretions when Kurt hadn't been so apologetic.

"I know I kind of ruined the weekend—we didn't even get to be intimate—"

"You were sick—" Blaine dismissed.

"I know, but still. I know it's difficult for you still, being at Mercedes' during the week."

"Sometimes. I feel like I shouldn't complain—we still see each other at school. I don't want to smother you, I just get sort of insecure if we don't have one-on-one time regularly I guess."

"I know. Tomorrow night. After Monday dinner, we will. I'll turn off my phone, crank up the white noise machine, and tell Rachel we're hitting the sack early—she'll get the hint."

"Heh. Sounds like a good plan."

"Besides, I've been wanting to take a good look at you. I'm sure the exercise is doing you good."

Blaine rolled his eyes. "Maybe. Aside from…yesterday… I don't think I've been working out anymore than you."

"A workout with Amy is like five workouts on that app though," Kurt teased. "She must have gone to whatever aerobic teacher school Sue Sylvester trained at."

Blaine smiled stiffly. "True. I'm just saying, I think it's gonna be awhile before I see any real results."

"I know. And you know I think you're hot no matter if you have a six pack or not. But just wait, and trust me. Soon your clothes will start fitting better and then you'll start feeling better overall. It's how it was with me when I started eating better, anyway."

Blaine nodded. "I hope so."

Kurt's phone buzzed and he chuckled as he looked at it. "Am I sucking up to you enough?"

"What?"

Kurt held his phone up. "Rachel asks if I'm doing a good job making things up to you."

Blaine grinned. "I love her. You can tell her I said you're doing fine."

Kurt shook his head, texting her back. "She gets all Mama Bear about you sometimes, I'll say that."

Blaine nodded. "When we first got together I always felt like she would always be your friend first, and in some ways that's true. But it's been nice getting a little closer to her in New York. And I help keep her out of trouble!"

Kurt laughed. "You do. You're a very good influence," he praised, giving Blaine a kiss. "She'd be over my knee a lot less if she was as honest as you, and that's just one thing!"

Blaine smiled uneasily. "Well I guess I better be going home and finishing homework for tomorrow. Can't wait for Monday night dinner."

"Me either. Text me when you get home?"  
"I will."


	23. Chapter 23

Monday morning was a blur. Per usual, Blaine had a rough time in stage combat class first thing, continuing his legacy of requiring the most first aid of any student this semester. Two Band-Aids later, he had to spend most of his lunch cramming for his theatre history quiz. Kurt helped by challenging him with flash cards but it wasn't exactly romantic relax time. He was glad for it in the end, because a lot of what he'd studied showed up on the quiz and he was pretty sure he wouldn't have been so confident of his answers without the extra cram session.

When the class was over he headed over to Acting for the Camera upstairs with Kurt.

"How's your wrist?" Kurt asked.

Blaine sighed. "It's fine, I'd just like to get through one week of classes without bleeding though. I can't believe how bad I am at stage combat."

"You'll get better," Kurt dismissed. "The sword sequence today was tricky—could have happened to anyone."

Blaine made a face, muttering, "Yet somehow it always happens to me."

Kurt conceded the point and tried to change the subject. "Think you did okay on your quiz today?" he asked.

"I think so. I mean, I'm sure I passed, and the multiple choice section was pretty easy. The essay questions were a bit tougher so I could have lost a few points there, but no big surprises at least."

"Well you should be proud of yourself then. Pretty sure that's the first time you've described any part of those quizzes 'easy,'" Kurt encouraged.

"Heh, well I guess that's true," Blaine smiled.

When Blaine started at NYADA he'd been somewhat prepared for the challenges of singing classes and tap dance lessons, but the rigor of reading three plays a week and memorizing complex details about ancient Greek theatre caught him off guard. While Dalton had always had a lot of homework, the expectations his past two years at McKinley had been a lot lower, and this was definitely a lot more reading than he'd ever been expected to absorb and be tested on than ever before. His first few grades that semester had been rather humbling. Kurt pushed him to keep at it and not get discouraged, knowing that slipping grades would probably make Blaine even more vulnerable to depression and despondency than he already was. Now anytime there was a major test coming up he made sure to be on Blaine more to stay off his phone and hit the books. Mostly Blaine appreciated the nudging, knowing his grades responded well to it.

As Blaine and Kurt headed into their Acting for the Camera class, Blaine remembered how Kurt had said he wanted to apologize to Amy about missing her class. He hoped Kurt would just forget about that, or at least if he did say something Amy would just shrug and say it was no big deal. If she really taught twelve classes a week it was unlikely she'd even remember who showed up and who didn't on any given week, right? _I'm getting nervous about nothing_.

Turned out Blaine didn't have anything to worry about: Amy wasn't even in class when he got there. _Must be out sick, I guess? For once I got lucky._ His attention was quickly diverted by the professor's lecture on camera angles, which he tried to take good notes on. Somehow he felt pressure to be perfect in the classes he didn't completely suck at.

By the time school was over for the day, Blaine was pretty tired, but looking forward to Monday night dinner. When he and Kurt got to the loft Rachel laid in on ordering them about as she had been planning an extensive entrée that somehow required them to do most of the work.

"You couldn't have started any of this before we got home?" Kurt groused. "You've been home all day!"

"I did get started! I had the groceries delivered and then I copied down the recipe online," Rachel defended.

Kurt shook his head. "Seriously, Rachel? That's not what I-"

"Come on guys, don't argue," Blaine interjected. "Artie and everyone are going to be here in an hour."

Rachel smirked. "Wasn't the one arguing," she said.

"No you were just the one bossing," Kurt retorted. "Stop ordering us around and help before I decide you need a warm backside to bring your attitude down a bit."

Rachel scowled, but relented, taking a knife out to chop the vegetables.

"Hey Kurt," Blaine said as he stirred the pot on the stove, looking to change the subject. "You think there's something going around NYADA?"

"What makes you ask that?"

"There were at least two people out from stage combat today. And Amy wasn't in Acting for the Camera. I don't think she's been absent all year."

"Hmm. That's true. I hope not. After last weekend the last thing I want is to get sick again."

"Someone's sick?!" Rachel asked, alarmed.

"Oh—oh no, Rachel—" Blaine soothed, kicking himself. Kurt and he had an agreement not to feed into Rachel's paranoia about germs, which had only gotten worse with her Broadway debut looming. "I'm sure it's nothing. Just a couple people out today is all."  
"You two better be washing your hands extra, I can't afford to get sick and if I have to send you both to Mercedes—" Rachel started, her voice rising.

"Calm down, Rachel. No one's sick," Kurt pronounced, exhausted. Privately he was thinking a little break from Rachel at Mercedes place actually wouldn't be the worst thing in the world.

"Better not be," Rachel grumped.

Blaine sighed. Getting Rachel freaked out about illness wasn't his wisest move. He hoped Kurt and Rachel wouldn't be bickering the whole night. Kurt seemed tired, but he was determined to make up for the weekend.


	24. Chapter 24

Blaine was worried Rachel and Kurt would continue bickering the rest of the evening, but Mercedes was a good buffer, he observed amusedly; both Kurt and Rachel behaved better when Mercedes was in the room for some reason. Overall Monday night dinner went off well, with Artie making everyone laugh with crazy film school stories and Sam busting out a few new impressions he'd been working on and now deemed shareable.

Usually on a Monday night dinner there was a lot of lingering after everyone had finished eating, but Blaine was staying over tonight and now had very little patience for it. Sam and Mercedes had volunteered to do the dishes and Artie was patiently listening to Rachel's _Funny Girl_ gossip on the couch, and it wasn't five minutes before he put aside any shame and pulled his fiancé aside.

"Ready for bed?" he whispered.

Kurt stifled a laugh.

"What?" Blaine pouted.

"Guess you're eager tonight."

"Always. You know that."

"They'll be leaving soon—" Kurt dismissed.

"Come on, they don't care," Blaine argued, pulling his fiancé close in his arms and kissing his cheek.

"Hey, we've talked about this," Kurt scolded mildly, "Not with people in the living room."

"Sam slept on the couch for months and I seem to recall having my way with you a few times back then," Blaine teased.

Kurt rolled his eyes. "You know what I mean. Awake people."

"Sometimes he was awake, just distracted with noisy video games."

"Yeah—one, video game coma isn't the same as awake. And two, I don't particularly remember sneaking around Sam's presence to have been particularly sexy."

"Well, I'm hurt, those were all very special moments to me-" Blaine teased, boldly reaching to give Kurt's butt a squeeze, drawing a gasp and then a reproachful look from his fiancé.

"Behave," Kurt admonished.

"I think Kurt and I are going to hit the books," Blaine announced to the room, ignoring him. "Big test tomorrow," he added, pulling him into the bedroom and flipping on the white noise machine before their chuckling friends could barely say good night.

Kurt continued to give Blaine a judgey look, but obliged by pulling the privacy curtain closed. "I know, you've been waiting a while," he said, low, with a roll of his eyes.

"Yes, we are overdue," Blaine replied pointedly.

Kurt smiled slow, indulging in looking Blaine over a moment. Then he kissed Blaine's gentle smile. "I've missed you too. I suppose I can't hold you off much—" he stopped short.

"What?" Blaine asked, concerned.

"Shit, we forgot to do the app."  
Blaine slumped. "You're right." He thought about making an argument that there were more pleasurable ways of getting exercise, but figured he'd already been pressing his luck a bit.

Kurt sighed, looking at Blaine. "The things I do for you sometimes," he said, shaking his head.

Resigned, Blaine took out his phone.

"No, you know what?" Kurt stopped him. "I'll do it. Ten minutes and then I promise you can ravage me however you like. But you already did more abs work so far this week anyway going to class. You can skip it tonight."  
Blaine's jaw dropped. "I—Kurt, you don't have to—"

"I want to. Make up to you for being kind of a jerk this weekend. And it's fair, right? I may have been sick, but you still put in some more time on this than you now. I should catch up to you a bit at least."

"We could—do it after—"

"No, just me. That's an order, young man."

Blaine chewed his lip. "I-it was just one class, Kurt. It's not like—"

Kurt grinned at him, taking his shirt off. "I know you're just disappointed because you'd planned to get me naked as quickly as possible, so I'll at least do it this way, how's that?"

Blaine laughed. "You're a tease. You could at least wait until after I ravage you, you know."

"Gotta get creative with foreplay, right?" Kurt whispered, before giving Blaine a quick kiss on the mouth before turning on his phone and starting the app.

Blaine shook his head, watching Kurt start his calisthenics. He felt a bit guilty but he certainly didn't mind the view, or the opportunity not to have to do any abs work tonight himself, truth be told.


	25. Chapter 25

Blaine woke up the next morning to a kiss on his cheek.

"Wake up, Sleepy." Kurt whispered.

"Hmmm?" Blaine forced his heavy eyelids open.

"We got to get going, you overslept."

Blaine bolted up in bed. "But I didn't make you breakfast—" he blurted.

"We'll get something on the way, there's no time." Kurt held up the alarm clock for Blaine to see.

Blaine frowned. Usually when he slept over he got up before the alarm. _Damn it._ Kurt just always looked so happy in the morning not to have to cook, being served… Blaine sighed. _Next time._

As he hurried to get dressed, he indulged in memories of last night. Kurt had certainly been… attentive. He smiled looking back at the bed, knowing he'd be counting the days again until the weekend. It was enough today, but struggling with insecurity and something approaching depression sometimes meant even when he was feeling pretty good he wondered in the back of his mind how long it might last. He reassured himself that a date night later in the week was still a possibility, but there was never any guarantee since Kurt kept trying to get shifts at the diner where he could. Of course he would see Kurt at school but they were trying to keep time there more professional these days, give each other space, and of course that was never going to be sate his appetite for a Kurt fix like one-on-one time would. _Just have to live off this high for a few days, and keep focused on school. It'll be okay. I think._

Blaine knew Kurt had felt bad about them not getting alone time during the weekend and had been trying to make up for it on some level last night. _Guess that's the silver lining of the whole debacle this weekend._ Sometimes Blaine wished all the time could be just messing-around-lazily-with-his-fiancé time, with his insecurities, problems, and responsibilities all put on hold for a bit. He smiled, remembering how Kurt had held him last night, how he'd teased him like he hadn't in a while.. Blaine had tensed uncomfortably when his shirt came off, hyper-aware of his abdominals next to Kurt's perfect body, but Kurt had quickly distracted him with kisses and tickles that got him reeling with want until he didn't care so much about that anymore. It had been perfect. _Just what I'd needed._

"Morning Rachel," Blaine said, seeing her eating cereal at the kitchen table.

"Heh. You've got that goofy grin on your face. Guess you had a good night."

Blaine blushed and looked away. "I do? Well. We had some fun," he conceded.

"Good. I yelled at him good this weekend, he owed you."

Blaine rolled his eyes. "You really didn't have to do that."

"That's what I'm here for, little bro," she teased.

"You know I've spent a good deal of my life trying to overcome my actual brother issues, right? Just please promise you'll never call me Squirt."

"Deal," Rachel giggled.

"It is nice for my ego to know you're cheering for me sometimes though. Even if it's a silly fight with Kurt."

"Well I'm glad we're friends for more than just someone you can feel taller near," Rachel teased.

"Ouch. My insecurities return."

"Well Santana called me every possible name making fun of my height throughout high school, so if you ever need counseling on overcoming height insecurity I'd say I'm as prepared as anyone you'll ever meet."

"I'll admit, the first time I met Finn was probably—when we had Sectionals together? Before Kurt and I were even a couple. Kurt was whispering to me in the audience during your set, saying 'That's the Rachel girl I keep telling you about, she's in lust with my new stepbrother,' and my entire first impression was wow he's so much taller than she is!"

"Nice."

"That was before I had a moment to actually listen to your performance and be way more concerned about all your knock-em sock-em talent, of course."

"Of course."

"And then, after Kurt and I got together, we had this conversation once about different celebrities we'd crushed on before. And he admitted he'd never imagined he'd go for someone shorter than him until he met me. And I was kind of like but I'm not that much shorter—look at Rachel and Finn!"

Rachel chuckled. "He probably was just trying to soothe his bruised ego by saying that because you probably talked too much about Adam Levine or something. You know how Kurt operates."

"Heh. Maybe!"

Kurt appeared from the bathroom. "How do I operate?"

Blaine shook his head. "Never mind."

"Talking about me?" Kurt accused mildly.

"Us?" Rachel laughed. "Only nice things. Mostly."

"Uh huh. Well Blaine needs to get going so you'll have to save the gossip session for later I guess. You have rehearsal later?"

"Yeah. I'm excited."

"Cool. Have a good rehearsal! Text me when you get out. I've got to swing by Vogue but I'm happy to run lines with you later tonight if you help me practice my Shakespeare soliloquy and make a dent in all the Monday night dinner leftovers."

"Great!"

Blaine smiled as he waved goodbye to Rachel. He'd felt a little twinge of jealousy for a second, hearing Kurt make plans with her without him, knowing he'd be back at Sam and Mercedes' apartment tonight. But he released the thought. "See you soon, Rachel."


	26. Chapter 26

The day went quickly for Kurt, running from class to class before a quick kiss goodbye to Blaine as he left NYADA for VogueDotCom. On the way, he texted with friends from the diner and managed to score shifts on Thursday and Friday that didn't go past midnight. Working late itself wasn't that bad, but it was hard to work late and take the subway home after—especially if he had school or his internship to get to in the early morning as well. But he'd been trying to pick up more weekday shifts so he'd have less need to do it on the weekend when Blaine was at the loft and wanting together time. Aside from the abs class, he didn't make a lot of commitments on the weekend anymore, which made weekdays even more demanding. He wasn't altogether sure which was worse—being busy every single day and never getting a rest, or being beyond busy all week and then totally burned out by the weekend. He figured that there was at least some benefit to getting a little reprieve from literally running all over the city on the weekends. Monday night dinners were becoming sacred for their friends so he avoided shifts then but most weeks found himself signing up for diner shifts most of the rest of those nights.

VogueDotCom got short shrift of his time with this arrangement, which made him feel terribly guilty. So, anytime he had even an hour to swing by there he did. Isabelle was blessedly understanding so far, but he didn't want to press his luck. He felt like he'd regret it if he quit the internship entirely, but there was no way he could reasonably put in any long hours there like he had last year before he got into NYADA. He was also toying with doing some kind of study-away program next fall, depending on whether or not Blaine would freak out at the suggestion. If that happened, he'd definitely need to take a leave of absence from the internship, so he hoped to get what he could out of the connection there now, even if it wasn't perfect.

So after a full day of school and his internship, he was pretty fried when he got back to the loft, where Rachel was pacing the apartment running lines.

"Well you look wiped," she commented as he walked in.

"I am. Sometimes I think keeping up with the Vogue along with everything else may be pushing it," he confessed.

"I know you like having it for your resume, but is it really worth it?" Rachel asked.  
Kurt sighed. "I don't know. I just feel so much loyalty to Isabelle, it'd be hard to leave entirely. And they'll be a good connection to have after I graduate."

Rachel nodded. She went to the freezer. "Reheating Monday night leftovers for dinner tonight?"

Kurt smiled. "Thank goodness for leftovers. Last thing I want to do tonight is cook something elaborate. When Blaine's around, I feel like I have to put on a good show these days and be a good example about cooking healthier—but when he's not, cooking just seems like a hassle."

"Less to clean up this way too." Rachel said cheerfully, putting a dish in the microwave to warm.

"Heh. Always looking to reduce your chores, aren't you?" Kurt teased.

Rachel smirked. "Maybe if I didn't have so many, I wouldn't be."

Kurt shook his head. When Blaine moved out the chore chart had to be adjusted, which meant they both had a little more to do during the week. It wasn't much, in Kurt's opinion, but Rachel was not about to let it drop that it was pretty unfair that she got more work just because they decided to change their living arrangement.

"And I thought we were going to get through the evening without an argument tonight."

"I was just saying."

"Uh huh. I'll bet good money Mercedes has Blaine and Sam doing all kinds of chores in her apartment too."

Rachel shook her head. "Blaine's Mr. Chores though—he doesn't complain about any of them!"

"I've noticed. Maybe you should take him as a role model."

Rachel pouted. "You're not supposed to be favoring him you know. He hardly ever gets in trouble," she groused.

"I'm not favoring anybody-Blaine gets in trouble plenty! The difference is when you get in trouble, you never stop complaining for the whole world to hear. If he got in trouble and you weren't around you'd never even hear of it. I bet you don't even know half the time."

"Well that's because even if Blaine does screw up, he usually thinks it was fair!"

Kurt chuckled. "Yes he does whine less than you for the most part. But I think it's more likely he doesn't' share about it because he feels guilty and embarrassed for having messed up. But when have I not been fair?"

Rachel smiled. "If it was really fair, wouldn't we be in trouble an even amount? If I'm in hot water more you should probably let up to make it more even."

"So you're saying I should let you get away with more stuff because you think statistically he's getting punished less?"

"Well, it'd be worth… considering."

Kurt rolled his eyes. "If you were really serious I'd take it under advisement but your whole premise is ridiculous. He was just in trouble like three weeks ago—over that stupid soda machine."

"Three weeks?! This is what I'm saying, Kurt."

"And then he lied in that app of his—"

"He didn't even get a spanking for that!"

"Wow, you really are keeping accounts I guess. Blaine said you'd be mad about that and I told him you wouldn't care."

"I don't care, not really- I just—"

"If you didn't care, you wouldn't have brought it up." Kurt looked at Rachel, level. "Look. Do you honestly think I've disciplined Blaine any less than he was ever deserving of it?"

"I'm not saying he should get in trouble more, exactly—"

"Right, just that you'd like to get in trouble less."

"Of course! Just because on principle that it should be even!"

"Answer my question. To your knowledge have I made a habit of letting Blaine get away with things?"

Rachel sighed. "…No," she conceded.

"Okay good. Just confirming that you're not actually concerned about real injustice here and just using this to bargain for me to be more of a pushover."

Rachel made a face, slumping. "You're impossible," she grouched.

"Just consistent," Kurt countered cheerfully. "You're just going to have to stay out of trouble honestly, I guess. If Blaine gets in trouble less—and I'm not sure that's always the case—it must be because he's meeting expectation more. Sounds like that's on you to fix, not me. Not my fault you're so brazen as to get yourself caught as often as you do."

Rachel rolled her eyes. "He's not even here most of the time now so of course you think I'm always the one doing more wrong."

"Well how do you know he's not going over my knee at the new place every other night?"

Rachel gave Kurt a look.

"With Sam and Mercedes right there? You wouldn't do that."

"Hmm. Okay, fair point. But you know I'd follow up with him on the weekend if needed. Or maybe he wouldn't get a spanking but I'd find a more discreet punishment. I find a way to get my point across when I have to."

Rachel made a face, knowing that was true. "Like your stupid essays?"

"Like my stupid essays, yes." Kurt smirked. Rachel wasn't fond of facing corporal punishment but there had been a couple times when Brody was around all the time that Kurt had made her write essays for him and by the end of that she always felt like she'd have preferred to have just been spanked and gotten it over with quicker.

"I just have to trust you to be fair?"

"Well I'll do my best to earn that trust. I don't even know where all this is coming from though—you seen Blaine get in trouble lots of times before at this point."

"I don't know, I guess I'm kind of nervous about him being at Mercedes' now," Rachel admitted.

"What, because you don't have him around to cover stuff up for you? Or someone to blame things on?" Kurt asked with a smile.

"No," Rachel replied with a smirk. "I just meant it's back to just me here—it's more pressure somehow, being the only one here sort of…under a microscope. And while I do complain a lot, I know you at least try to be fair. I just think it'd be really easy for him to go a long time without any discipline when he's not even here as much, and you know I'm going to screw up twice a week."

Kurt smiled and touched Rachel's shoulder, fond. "I get it. Both you and Blaine are really…vulnerable…in this arrangement sometimes. You just have to understand, you're different people. You'd hate an essay a lot more than he ever would, and sometimes I just have him stand in a corner and you'd think I'd humiliated him a lot worse than that. He doesn't get in trouble over chores as much as you do but he's faced plenty of discipline for other things over the time we've known each other, and you know it."

Rachel sighed, conceding with a nod.

"Now while I tease you a bit about this, I do mean it when I say I promise to try to be consistent with you and Blaine—it's just impossible to treat you exactly the same all the time, and it's not up to me how often you two decide to bend the rules. But comparing isn't going to keep you out of trouble Rachel, keeping your focus on you will."

Rachel sighed, pulling food out of the microwave and handing a plate to Kurt.

"Yes, sir."


	27. Chapter 27

Back at Mercedes' place that evening, Blaine was muttering curse words as he tried to get through the last few minutes of his workout with his app. The novelty of the app had definitely worn off and he'd not been pleased when he realized he'd never done his workout in the morning after having to rush to school. It was always a drag to have to do crunches at the end of a long day at NYADA when he just wanted to relax. The temptation to blow it off was hard to ignore, but the guilt he still felt about this weekend loomed large and he talked himself into getting started, figured he'd feel that much worse.

Laying on the living room floor recovering when he was done, Blaine wondered if Kurt had gotten back to the loft yet and if Rachel and Kurt were talking about him. He scolded himself a moment then, telling himself that Rachel and Kurt probably didn't obsess over whether he was talking about them when he wasn't around. _I was just there last night._ _My life's got to be more than just_ _them_ _all the time—this is why I moved out._

Blaine sat up and opened the app on his phone, recording his workout. It felt good to keep track of his workouts, and know that Kurt would check. For a moment his brow furrowed as he looked at the record until he remembered how last night Kurt had told him he didn't have to do the app. He felt guilty thinking about it. Last night he'd been quickly distracted by desire, but now in retrospect he felt like he'd been a bit of a jerk. Obviously Kurt had said he didn't have to do the app because he was counting the non-existent time he'd spent in Amy's class over the weekend. He thought about all those minutes he'd just sat and let Kurt do his workout without him. He could have argued harder that it wasn't necessary, he supposed. _Or confessed. Ugh. This is stupid. It's not even that big of a deal._ Blaine wondered what it must be like to be Noah Puckerman- or some other person like that who never seemed to get bogged down feeling bad about minor sins like he did. _Must be nice._

"What are you doing?"

Blaine's thought's were disrupted by Mercedes emerging from the kitchen with a plate of food.

"Oh Mercedes. I didn't even realize you were home. Just finishing a quick workout."

"You boys are exercise obsessed these days, jeez."

"Heh. I don't' know about obsessed, but I'm trying. It's an app. I record that I did the workout and then Kurt can keep track."

"What, so if you don't you get in trouble?"  
"S-something like that. Or sometimes maybe a reward if—"

"Heh. Yeah it sounded like you were due for a reward last night. You two couldn't keep your hands off each other ten minutes after dinner? You would have thought it was Mr. Schue's wedding all over again." Mercedes teased, sitting down with her plate of food.

"I—uh—was it really rude?" Blaine scrambled. "I didn't mean to- We just didn't really get much time this weekend, you see, and-"

"Relax Blaine, I'm just teasing. Nobody cares."

"Oh."

"You had fun?"

Blaine flushed. "Yeah."

"Good. Glad Kurt's feeling better, sounds like what he had was a nightmare. Rachel wouldn't shut up about the graphic details of him throwing up at 3 in the morning. Surprised Rachel didn't end up crashing here with all her germaphobic tendencies."

"Yeah. We were pretty quick to figure out it was probably just food poisoning."

"I love that girl but I think I'd probably go crazy with her freaking out over every little thing in my own house. I'd have to be in a sanitized bubble or something the whole of allergy season."

Blaine smiled. "She's really not so bad. I guess everyone has stuff that makes them irritate someone else."

"True. Roommating isn't always for the faint of heart."

"Sam and I are doing okay though, right? Not driving you too crazy?"

Mercedes laughed. "Sam needs a lot of reminders to pick up after himself, but no. You two are fine."  
"I'll stay on him about it. We really appreciate you giving us a good deal on rent here. And I know Kurt is relieved I'm staying with people we know."

Mercedes nodded. "I made extra if you want any of this," she said, indicating her chicken.

"Thanks. Already grabbed dinner on the way home, but maybe will take advantage of that for lunch tomorrow if you have leftovers. I'm not exactly on a diet but trying to track my food a bit."

Mercedes nodded. "I'm surprised Kurt hasn't been over more since you moved in."

"He will. It's just hard sometimes, with both our schedules."

"Well he's always welcome. Long as you two keep it down when I'm getting my beauty sleep," she teased.

Blaine smiled. "We'll do our best. Though he's as likely to be here scolding me about studying enough as much as anything terribly sexy these days."

"School going okay?"

Blaine shrugged noncommittally, sitting down next to Mercedes. "Yeah. I mean, it's going okay enough. My voice class is going well and I'm getting used to all the reading for theatre history. But it's a tough school—there's always whispering about who's at risk for getting cut, it's just a lot of pressure sometimes. Some of it I was prepared for, but… I guess I didn't really think the hard stuff would be as hard as it has been. And I've got to hold the record for most times injured in Combat Class at this point. It's sort of embarrassing."

Mercedes gave Blaine a hug. "That's a lot on top of being in a new city, trying to make a relationship work—I give you a lot of credit."

Blaine sighed. "I really admired you for going out to California and making your dreams happen—sometimes I feel really overwhelmed here but there's no way I could have made it alone like that."

Mercedes chuckled. "You make it all sound so glamorous. I was miserable in California."

"Really?"

"Well, a lot of the time. Sure, it was exciting sometimes, and I wouldn't change it because I met so many goals and it put me in a place to be able to strive for more now—but I was broke and really lonely for a lot of it. Why you think I went out of my way to help Artie and Finn with the music for _Grease_? Honestly I'd have come back every weekend if I could have afforded it, especially on the rough days."

"How'd you get through it?"

"Skype-ing my mom a lot. And church. I know it's not for everyone, but no matter how bad my week has been, no matter what city I'm in, it's a real comfort to me that I can find somewhere to be on Sunday and sing and pray it all out. I learned a lot about myself last year and a big thing was just how much I need some kind of community, and on the regular."

Blaine nodded. "I guess Monday night dinners are good for us that way. I'd like to make some more friends in New York, but no one's going to mean as much as you guys do. In high school it was easy to connect with people—I'd bump into someone in the hallway and we'd make plans to go the mall or something. In college it feels different. Everyone's busy and I don't know, my confidence took a bit of a hit. So… I'm just so happy you let me and Sam stay here and that Artie's close by—it means a lot that whatever stress I've got from school I've got people to have dinner with on Mondays and they'll make me feel better."

Mercedes nodded. "Everybody needs friends. And the older I get, the more convinced I am that no one actually has life all figured out and together like it always seemed when I was in high school. Everyone's struggling with one thing or another most of the time. It helps to remember you're not alone. Plus, I like to keep you around because you're a good influence on Sam," she added, with a wink.

"Yes, every now and then I'm able to pull him away from video games. He'd never get outside without me!"

"Well that's good too but I meant you're a heck of a lot more trustworthy than he is and it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world if that rubbed off on him."

"Trustworthy? You know I cheated on my boyfriend last year, right? It was sort of an insane and public gossip-fest for a while there. It's a wonder anyone ever trusted me for anything again."

"Blaine. Kurt forgave you for that. I'm sure it was complicated. You're engaged now. Of course I don't consider that when I think of you."

"Thanks."

"I just meant Sam isn't above bending the truth every now and then about whether he dropped the check for the electric bill into the mail or not. If you screw up you're pretty good about admitting it. Kurt's lucky. That's more important in a relationship than a lot of people think. And you two are so good at helping each other with your goals. I'd be loathe to honestly track my workouts for anyone myself."

Blaine shifted uncomfortably. He thought of how he'd been in trouble for not exactly being accurate with the app in the past. And of how disappointed Kurt would be if he ever found out about how he blew off abs class and lied about it this weekend. _Yeah, I'm a super honest guy._


	28. Chapter 28

Blaine tossed and turned a bit that night. He never quite slept the same when he didn't share a bed with Kurt, and thoughts of guilt over his dishonesty still bothered him. He wished he had just gone to that stupid abs class on Saturday. He could confess, but Kurt would likely ask why it took him all this time and he didn't have a good answer for that. He bet Rachel never felt this guilty over minor fibs like he did. Sometimes he wished he could be more like her. _Let it go._ He thought about how he and Kurt would be going to class again come Saturday. He imagined Amy calling out his absence from last week in front of Kurt and the rest of the students— and of Kurt dressing him down about it in front of everybody. _Even if that did happen—which is ridiculous—Kurt wouldn't do that. Ugh. Why do I think like this?_

On the morning subway ride Blaine half-convinced himself to confess anyway, but then thought better of it. In the end, he made a compromise with himself. _If it comes up again, I'll tell the truth. I won't bring it up myself, or go out of my way to invite trouble, but I'm not going to lie about it anymore._ This somehow eased his mind and he was able to think about other things by the time he got to school.

"Hey!" Kurt greeted, sitting in the hallway outside the Combat class classroom. He was reading some Pinter play for his Sophomore Dramatic Literature class. "Did you see? Amy's back."

"A-Amy? What?" Blaine was caught off guard to hear her name when he had just semi-successfully pushed her out of his mind.  
"You know. Amy. She had an early tap class and we ran into each other. Talked to her a bit before you got here."

"You did?"  
"Yeah turns out she didn't have the flu or anything. Death in the family apparently."

"Oh. Well. I guess that's good news for Rachel that you won't be bringing any germs home."

Kurt nodded. "Poor thing was so stressed out about having missed two days of classes. I told her you have the best notes from Acting for the Camera and we'd be happy to catch her up on stuff over lunch today."

"Oh. Of- of course. Sure."

Kurt looked at Blaine funny. "You okay?"

"Yeah. Just—coffee hasn't kicked in yet, I guess."

Kurt nodded and went back to reading. For a moment Blaine almost blurted out everything, but he swallowed it back. _Stop making a big deal of nothing. She's got 30 people in that class and had a family emergency—she's not even going to remember if you were there or not._ He headed into class.

When lunch time rolled around Blaine was actually in a far better mood. For once, he was injury-free after combat and had even gotten some faint praise for improving in one of the fight sequences they'd been working on. But he had worked up quite a sweat and was eager to get lunch. Kurt had told Amy to meet them at the sandwich shop across the street from class, so Blaine followed Kurt there just quietly hoping no talk of last weekend would come up. _We'll just talk about school and it'll all be fine._

"Hey, Kurt! And- it's Blaine, right?"

 _Heh. I've been obsessing over her and she barely even remembers my name. She's definitely not paying enough attention to know if I was in class this weekend or not. I'm ridiculous._ "Yeah. It's Blaine."

"I'm sorry, I know we've been in class together for awhile—I'm just terrible with names and I don't know a lot of freshmen."

"No worries. I get it. Kurt told me you had a death in the family, I'm so sorry."

Amy nodded. "Yeah, my grandfather's funeral was yesterday. Took a midnight bus from Pittsburgh to get back to school on time today. It's been crazy."

"Wow, you must be exhausted."

"I am, but I'm not risking getting cut for poor attendance."

Blaine's eyes widened. "NYADA would understand if—"

"Maybe, but Camen Thibideaux already hates me half the time, I can't take a chance."

Kurt put a hand on Amy's shoulder. "In fairness, I'm pretty sure Carmen hates everybody half the time."

Amy smiled. They ordered their sandwiches and sat down. "Thanks for sharing your notes," Amy said as Blaine handed them over. "I was freaking out there'd be a pop quiz on camera angles or something today."

"Relax, everything's going to be fine," Blaine assured.

"Yeah, we owe you for doing such a good job whipping us into shape on Saturdays anyway," Kurt joked.

Amy rolled her eyes. "I'll have to keep you two for a reference in case I get fired. The NYADA gym hates me right now."

"Wait. Why?" Blaine asked.

"Everything with my grandfather happened so fast, I didn't have time to get someone to cover when I left Friday night. They had to cancel a bunch of my weekend classes. Thank GOD Gwen from my ballet class was willing to cover a couple classes Monday and my friend Jake took my Tuesday classes. Gwen's not exactly an aerobics instructor though so I'm not sure how much of a disaster those classes were—and my boss was already freaking out about people asking for their money back on the weekend. It's a mess."

There was a pause. "W-well it's nice you're friends were able to help out. And you had a good reason, that has to count for something." Blaine said, quietly freaking out. _Keep talking, think of something- maybe he won't even think of it_. "If you have any questions about those notes, j-just ask," he added, trying to think of a way to change the subject.

"So you… couldn't teach any of your classes this weekend?" Kurt asked quietly.

Amy looked up from the notes. Blaine froze.

"No," she said. "Took the 7:00 to Pennsylvania Friday night. My grandfather passed like 2 hours after I got there."

Kurt nodded, offering reassurances and then explaining some of the notes and assignments Amy had missed without missing a beat. Blaine made busy with his sandwich, watching out of the corner of his eye. _He's got to be furious with me. Fuck, why didn't I say something before?_ When he finished his food he tried to distract himself by looking through the agenda where he kept track of all of his homework.

After a bit Amy looked at her watch. "Shit. It's already almost a quarter to one. I have to run and change before class. Thanks again guys, I owe you."

"Of course, and let us know if there's anything more you need," Kurt said. Blaine waved, trying to stay cool. He watched Amy leave as Kurt took a long drink of his iced tea.

"W-well we probably need to start heading back too I guess," he started.

Kurt turned and stared at him. Blaine looked at the floor.

"We do. I thought you might… have something to say first though."

Blaine swallowed. "About… this weekend?" he ventured.

"Yes," came Kurt's short reply.

"I um… kinda… didn't make it to class on Saturday."

"I gathered that. You- just blew it off?"

Blaine nodded miserably. "I w-was thinking of telling you before—"

"And why didn't you?" Kurt asked rather icily.

Blaine squirmed. "I guess I… figured you'd… be upset."

"That you defied me and then lied about it for three days? Can't imagine why you'd think that," Kurt spat, standing up and tossing his napkins and sandwich wrapper into he garbage.

Blaine felt small. "L-look. I'm sorry."

Kurt nodded. "Sure you are. You just got caught."

"N-no I mean. I was sorry before too. Like I've been feeling really guilty."

"Yet somehow not guilty enough to tell me the truth?"

Blaine stared back at his hands.

Kurt sat back down and leaned in towards Blaine, speaking quietly so the patrons around couldn't hear.

"You were right about one thing. We need to get going soon or we're going to be late. I don't know what to say except that- I don't know what you were thinking, but assuming you don't have some kind of really good explanation—it's pretty clear to me at least that you deserve to be disciplined for this."

"Yes sir," Blaine whispered quietly.

Kurt sighed. "But somehow you've won the jackpot because after classes tonight I've got to work at the diner. And between the diner and Vogue I'm tied up until Saturday."

Blaine relaxed a little to hear this. Normally he'd be disappointed to hear that Kurt was booked until the weekend, but this was a relief. Kurt was likely to find a way to punish him either way, but if he was really mad about this, maybe holding off until the weekend would give Kurt time to calm down. Maybe he'd think about it for a couple days and decide to be lenient since it all came about after he'd been sort of a jerk himself?

Kurt, seeing Blaine relax, put his hand on his shoulder. "You defied me when I gave you a direct order. While I was sick, no less! And then you lied about it—several times. For days!"

Blaine struggled to look his fiancé in the eye. "I- I did. I'm sorry."

"You will be disciplined. Make no mistake. It may have to wait a couple days but I'm not letting this go."

"I – I understand sir." Blaine said miserably.

"Come on. We're going to be late for class," Kurt said, dismissively.

Blaine hung his head, but obediently grabbed his things and followed Kurt out of the sandwich shop.


	29. Chapter 29

**I'm in so much hot water with Kurt right now.**

Rachel got the text in the middle of rehearsal. She eyed it while ostensibly listening to her music director lecturing the chorus about their harmonies, and then discreetly put it back into her purse. As soon as her director released the cast, she made a beeline back to her purse to text Blaine back.

 **What happened? Did you get a bad grade on that theatre history test you were studying for?**

She waited impatiently for a response. She had a bit of time before she had to be at the diner tonight and this was certainly intriguing. She felt a little torn between hoping it was something minor for her Blaine's sake and enjoying the idea of not being the one in trouble at the moment.

 **I kind of didn't go to my abs class like I'd said I did last weekend.**

Rachel's forehead wrinkled, confused by that.

 **What? Why not?**

It took a moment for Blaine to reply.

 **I was upset with Kurt, but it's not really an excuse. I just… blew it off. And sort of fibbed a few times about it since then.**

Rachel sighed and shook her head. Kurt was not known for taking lying lightly, and she remembered he'd just let him off the hook about exercising with that app of theirs a couple weeks ago. She grabbed her coat from the green room and texted him back, trying to cheer him up.

 **Sounds like something I would do. Let me guess. You felt so guilty you confessed? Amateur mistake. ;)**

She was just leaving the rehearsal hall when she got the reply.

 **I wish. He'd probably go easier on me if I had. We went to lunch with this girl from NYADA who teaches the class. She was out of town this weekend and cancelled class. So my stories about how much of a workout it was don't exactly hold up anymore.**

Rachel's eyes widened as she read the text while waiting for the elevator.

 **Yikes. Sounds like you were this close to getting away with it too. Getting caught in a lie sucks. What did he say?**

Rachel rode the elevator down to the first floor and almost immediately got a text back.

 **Not much. He's working tonight and the rest of the week—I'm going to make myself crazy waiting. It's gonna be Saturday morning or so before he can even do anything about it.**

Rachel smiled. If she was in trouble and knew she wasn't getting punished right away, she'd be relieved. She only got worked up about a punishment right when it was about to happen. If she was honest she'd admit that was because if there was any length of time first she tended to set her mind on the hope she'd come up with a way to talk her way out of it in the mean time. But she guessed Blaine preferred to get these things over with. _He's going to beat up on himself about this more than anything Kurt'd deal out._

 **Don't be too hard on yourself. Nobody's perfect. It was just one class anyway. Fingers crossed he'll be lenient.**

Rachel knew that was probably little comfort to Blaine right then, but she didn't know what else to say. She figured Kurt would give him a spanking for it—that's what he'd do to her for a similar offense. She made a mental note that she should maybe try to find an excuse to be out of the apartment Saturday morning. Kurt had no problem disciplining them in front of each other at this point, but both admitted they found it more embarrassing with someone else around.

 **He'd have been lenient if I'd admitted to all this three days ago. I deserve it anyway. I just hate knowing he's disappointed in me.**

Rachel's heart broke a little to read that, knowing he was sincere. _He's so sweet sometimes._

 **You know he loves you. You'll apologize and he'll deal with it, but then it'll be over. Try not to obsess over it, okay? I'll try to put in a good word for you at the diner tonight. Big sis is on the case.**

Rachel ran into Kurt at the sandwich shop down the street from the diner, where they often grabbed an early dinner before a shift. She tried to size Kurt up and see what kind of mood he was in.

"Hey, how's it going?"

"Hey. Alright. Just been a blur of a week. Wishing I could just go home right now."

Rachel nodded. "Same."

"We're crazy with all we take on sometimes, I'll say that."

"We all are. Artie and Sam's schedules are nuts too. But NYADA life seems to be a special kind of intense. It'd be understandable if you or Blaine dropped something here and there. You know, like all that exercising you've been doing."

Kurt looked at Rachel funny. "What are you getting at?"  
"I'm just saying… you both must be tired a lot of the time. Maybe you shouldn't be so strict about keeping up with that exercise regimen so much. Cut Blaine a break."

Kurt grunted. "The exercise stuff was his idea in the first place."

"He uh, sort of mentioned to me that he missed a class last weekend."

"He did?" Kurt said, eyes narrowing.

Rachel bit her lip, treading lightly. "Yeah. And I was thinking that, well, maybe you should go easy on him about it."

Kurt lowered his voice. "Young lady I think you know better than trying to dictate how I handle his discipline."

Rachel squirmed a moment. "I'm not—dictating anything. I'm just saying he feels really bad about it. If you're going to spank him-"

"If?"

"I mean, I assumed, I was just thinking that—"

"This isn't really your business, Rachel."

"Come on, hear me out."

Kurt sighed but relented, gesturing for her to continue.

"He texted me. He's all worked up that you're disappointed in him. And not for nothing, but it's sort of cruel to make him wait days and days."

"That wasn't in my control. It's not my fault he got caught on a day I have work."

Rachel sighed. "I know. I just thought you should consider— he's really sensitive about the discipline you give. It's different than it is with me. At least sometimes. You always say you try to make the punishment fair. But if he's going to be thinking, day after day, about how bad it's going to be—that's like extra punishment almost. And you know Blaine, it's going to distract him from his work at NYADA. He'll probably shame spiral about it and overexert himself doing extra workouts until you deal with it. I'm not saying you can't punish him, but can't you just make him write an essay or something and be done with it?"

Kurt looked out the window, unsure. On general principle he felt like Rachel was out of line to be having an opinion on Blaine's punishment in the first place. But she had a point that Blaine would probably have an outsized reaction with this not being addressed right away. And maybe if it had been Rachel, an essay would be a reasonable compromise; she hated when he made her write things. Blaine would take an essay seriously, but would likely consider it an easier punishment than Rachel would. Kurt thought of the times he'd caught both of them in lies in the past, and didn't think it was right to go for anything "easier" when he thought of those precedents set. He wasn't sure what to do.


	30. Chapter 30

Blaine had tried to stay focused in classes that afternoon but was only semi-successful. One of the downsides of having signed up for so many classes that Kurt shared this semester was he couldn't put him out of his mind during class when there was stuff going on between them. He couldn't believe he'd been so stupid; it was embarrassing to be caught like that. He wished he'd just admitted it all when he'd first had a chance.

Kurt gave him a kiss on the cheek goodbye as they parted ways in front of NYADA, never mentioning the reveal of his indiscretions earlier. There was nothing to talk about, Blaine supposed. He'd been caught and he'd be punished for it later, that much was understood. He glanced back at Kurt, hurrying off towards the uptown train entrance. He just wished something he had thought of something, anything to say that would have made Kurt feel less disappointed in him. Or that he'd just punish him now so it'd be over with. He'd still wish he hadn't done it, he figured, but after he was finished there was a sense of having a clean slate that provided a certain kind of relief, even if it came with a sore backside. The more he thought about waiting days and days for Kurt to pronounce his sentence, the more nervous and guilty he felt about the whole thing. He realized he wasn't used to having to wait to be disciplined; Kurt usually handled these things as soon as he found out, or shortly after when there was more privacy available. In Lima that had been easy a lot of the time because they carpooled together so much, and when they'd been living together at the loft it had never been a thought. _I guess this is something I'll just have to get used to now._

Blaine texted Rachel, having no other outlet to share his misery with. It was ironic to him that he wanted to tell her, when there was a time not long ago when the notion of anyone ever knowing would have been horrifying. When she had first found out about Kurt and Blaine's disciplinary arrangement, Blaine thought he'd never live down the embarrassment. That was before Rachel had asked for her own arrangement with Kurt as well. It took him at least a week after that to even comfortably look her in the eye again. He never would have imagined back then that someday Kurt would be providing this service to her too, and that this would be something they would share. But now that they had both seen each other punished several times, he had to admit that it was a comfort to know at least there was someone out there who'd sympathize. They had both sought discipline because they thought it helped them meet their larger personal and professional goals on some level—but there were lots of times they both found it unpleasant and it turned out that commiserating could be soothing. Kurt usually provided reassurances after a punishment and was generally forgiving, but there was something nice about having Rachel to vent to. More often than not Rachel was bolder at breaking rules than Blaine was, so a part of him knew that most times she'd say he hadn't done anything wrong or that it wasn't any big deal even if he was pretty sure it was. But some days it was nice to hear her say so anyway.

Blaine dragged his feet home, moody and still in his sweats from classes. When he got home he went to the kitchen to prepare himself a snack. He opened the refrigerator and looked down at himself, making a face at the frumpy curve of his t-shirt. He straightened it out, and stood up a little taller, trying to pull his abs in. _All this working out would be a lot easier if I was seeing more results._ He sighed and took a yogurt from the refrigerator and settling down at the table to start his theatre history homework, actually grateful for the distraction from feeling sorry for himself.

He was disrupted about an hour later by his phone, annoyingly beeping a notification to do his abs workout. Blaine made a face. _I should have done it first thing when I got home, ugh._ He turned off the notification and checked his other messages. There was a text from Mercedes, reminding him and Sam to stay away from the leftovers she had in the fridge. And one from Sam, asking him if he could bring his basket of laundry, currently sitting on the coffee table up to his room. **They're clean, bro, I swear.** Blaine smiled, thinking he must be asking because he didn't want a lecture from Mercedes when she got home. In the loft, covering for each other's chores had been a highly dicey game. Rachel was always asking and Blaine was usually unsure about agreeing lest Kurt disapprove. Kurt didn't like Rachel taking advantage of Blaine, even if Blaine (usually) said he didn't mind. With Sam, Blaine was a little better at saying no, to a point. Mercedes had given them both a good deal on rent and put up with a lot from her roommates sometimes, so on occasion Blaine would just agree to cover for him on the grounds that keeping Mercedes happy was good for everybody. He texted back, **Sure bro**.

He looked at the time, figuring both Mercedes and Sam would probably be home soon. He grabbed the basket and headed towards the stairs when his phone vibrated again. It was Kurt.

 **You home? Did your homework?**

Blaine straightened up. Kurt didn't always check on him like that and he figured he was making a point about how trustworthy he was given recent events.

 **Yes sir. Wasn't too bad tonight. Just finished that Chekhov play.**

Blaine wondered if Kurt was going to say that he should be thinking about what he'd done then, maybe ground him from tv or something. He remembered once Rachel wasn't allowed to watch her reality tv shows for a couple days when she first came back from her out of town tryouts. "You can use the extra free time to consider your choices, young lady," Kurt had said. He figured Kurt would be none to happy this week if he spent his time playing a lot of video games with Sam or something. He texted again.

 **And I haven't done my abs workout yet but going to in a few minutes. Just wanted you to know I'm not just watching Netflix now or anything. I'm sorry again about this weekend. I'm going to try to be more responsible and I want you to be able to trust me, and I know I screwed up with that this time.**

Blaine made a face as soon as the message sent. He was never sure if the words he'd chosen were the right ones. _He's probably walking out of his break at the diner and might not even see the message for a bit anyway._

He picked up the laundry basket and headed up the stairs, when the doorbell rang. He wondered who it could be, since both Mercedes and Sam had keys and they hardly knew their neighbors. _Maybe someone's canvassing for some politician?_ He left the basket at the top of the stairs, went back down and opened the door.

It was Kurt.


	31. Chapter 31

"K-Kurt. W-What are you doing here? I thought you were at the diner."

"I decided to switch shifts. Dani's been begging everybody all week for someone to cover her Saturday night shift so she can do some roller derby thing. She was already there from this afternoon and more than happy to pull a double last minute."

Blaine didn't know what to say. "Uh—come in, I just—wow," he stuttered.

Kurt walked in, put his schoolbag down, and sat on the sofa. "I hope you don't mind my just dropping by like this."

"Of—of course not. You're always welcome, you know that."

"And I'll understand if you're annoyed about me giving away some of our weekend time to the diner. I talked to Rachel. She told me you two talked about what happened with Amy today."

Blaine's face colored. "I uh, well we texted. Is that okay?"

"Of course. I can't say I particularly enjoy getting lectured from Rachel about her opinions on how I handle things but I understand you'll talk." Kurt sighed. "I imagine it helps to have someone to vent to." A part of him almost sounded jealous.

"I wasn't—complaining or anything. Just saying I felt bad about being… in trouble."

Kurt nodded. "I know. But for the record you're free to complain too. And actually I'd encourage Rachel to get that off her chest with you every now and then, maybe it'd get it out of her system before I have to listen to it," he added with a sly grin.

"I don't know what Rachel told you, but I do take responsibility for everything, I wasn't trying to get her to talk you out of anything—"

Kurt raised a hand, quieting Blaine. "I know. And… I thought about it, and it happened that Dani had been group texting everybody for a couple days about the shift switching thing. I never responded before because I'd been trying to keep our weekend time open. But after talking with Rachel, I decided it was important enough that we take care of this tonight."

Blaine paused. "Um, take care?" he asked neutrally.

"Of your punishment. If you recall you blatantly defied me and then lied about it for several days," Kurt said pointedly.

Blaine bit his lip a moment. "Uh, y-es sir, I… understand. Just, um…" Blaine fidgeted, glancing up and over towards the door, rubbing the back of his neck. "Well, I'm not sure what you had in mind, but S-Sam and Mercedes are going to be home any minute, so…"

"Oh, I took care of that."

"What?"

"Sam and Mercedes are meeting up at some restaurant in Soho that Artie recommended. I didn't text you on the way over because I was waiting to hear back from them and wanted to be sure. I had to fib a bit myself. I told Mercedes we had a fight at school and that I wanted to make up, and would she be willing to take Sam out so we could talk."

"…Oh."

"So. We have some privacy."

Blaine didn't know what else to say. Ten minutes ago he was wishing he could get this punishment thing over with and suddenly it was looking imminent. It was quiet for what seemed like a long time.

"You been feeling guilty?" Kurt finally asked gently.

"Since it happened," Blaine admitted sheepishly.

"Really?" Kurt asked, skeptical. "If you were really feeling guilty, why didn't you say something before?"

Blaine shrugged, ashamed. "I kept thinking about it and… I guess, just chickening out. I'm sorry. I let you down."

Kurt sighed. "Rachel said you were really concerned that I was disappointed in you and, I don't know if this makes you feel any better, but I don't know that that's how I'd characterize how I feel about this. I was just sort of…shocked about it at first, and I don't want to minimize that you've disobeyed our rules- but I do get that you're going to make mistakes sometimes. We have this arrangement because you've told me this helps when you make mistakes and helps you to avoid them in the future. You and I both knew it was unlikely you'd take on a whole new exercise regimen perfectly from the get-go. It's why you wanted me to hold you accountable for it."

Blaine looked away. "I guess I just kind of told myself I'd just do it perfectly and not have to worry about being in trouble."

Kurt smiled. "I know, you're really good about trying to meet expectations most of the time. But you shouldn't feel like you have to lie if you don't. Maybe I'm not always so great about making it okay for you to admit you screwed up. I want you to tell the truth just because it's an agreement between us, but I don't want you to be so afraid of getting punished that you're more likely to lie about things."

"It's not—that, usually," Blaine murmured. "I mean, I don't like when I get punished, but you never really… scare me."

"Then what is it?"

"It's just… embarrassing. When I screw up."

"Because of the scolding you'll get over it?"

"Sometimes it's about facing you, I guess. It's one thing to admit a fault to myself but it's harder to say it to someone else. But I expect you to be stern about these things. Honestly, most of the time I'm at least as hard on myself as you are with me."

"You were really mad at me that morning in the loft," Kurt commented. "You could have safe-worded- said I wasn't being reasonable or said we need to take a break on this until I wasn't sick or something- rather than just blowing off the expectation."

"I was mad, but that's not— it wasn't like that. I didn't decide not to go to class then. I left there upset, but I really was going to go."

"I guess one of the reasons I was sort of floored by all this was it sounded like you'd just decided to flaunt the rules because you were angry with me—which is honestly something I'm pretty used to with Rachel, but that's not usually like you."

Blaine shook his head. "I walked all the way to the subway and got almost all the way there. I was mad at first, but then just sort of feeling hurt or something. I was one stop away and—I don't know, I just decided in the moment that I didn't feel like going anymore and… well, I didn't think you'd find out so…" Blaine trailed off, avoiding Kurt's gaze.

"So you thought you could get away with it," Kurt supplied.

"…Yes, sir," Blaine admitted. "And then I felt really guilty about it later, but once I bent the truth once or twice… the more time went by, the harder it felt like it'd be to confess. But I thought about it a lot."

Kurt nodded. "I know I hurt your feelings that morning. Making you sleep on the couch and telling you to crash back at your place that night had to feel a little like rejection? We didn't even get to be intimate the night before," he mused, remembering.

Blaine shifted. "You apologized, Kurt. It was just—stuff happens."

"Yes, but I wonder if maybe a part of the reason you blew off the class was because you wanted attention."

"What?"

"You lost your nerve when it came down to admitting it, but you had to know if I ever caught wind that you skipped class I'd put you over my knee. And you might not enjoy that kind of "attention" much, but maybe if I was really letting you down in that department… maybe you sort of felt like you had to act out. To make me notice."

Blaine blinked. "I… maybe? I don't know," He made a face. "That sounds so… childish, do you really think that's why I did it?"

Kurt shrugged. "At this point it's probably not so important why you did it as how you're going to make sure it doesn't happen again."

Blaine looked at the floor. "I didn't feel like I could call you because you were sick and we'd just been in kind of a fight. But if I'd called Rachel or Sam, even if I didn't give them all the details- they probably would have made me feel better. I don't think I would have made that decision if I hadn't been in kind of a bad place."

Kurt nodded. "It's always going to be harder to follow the rules when you're not feeling your best. I get that. But part of discipline is learning to do what you're supposed to do even if you don't feel like it."

"Yes, sir."

"And while you know I don't like you lying on general principle, young man, I have a bigger concern about it here. You've been carrying this lie for days and you don't seem to possess whatever guilt-immunity Rachel has about these things. Maybe some people can bend the truth and go on like nothing happened. But you know when you've done wrong and it eats at you. It's a distraction. If this has been on your mind for days it probably took your mind from other things you need to focus your energy on, like schoolwork."

Blaine swallowed and hung his head. "Yes sir."

"You need to remember this next time, Blaine. NYADA's no joke and it's your first year away from home. It sounds like this was an impulsive move, and I get being embarrassed to admit you messed up. But needlessly carrying around guilt isn't going to help you when you've already been struggling with a lot of things. It might have been uncomfortable to bring this all up on Saturday or Sunday, but it wouldn't have been haunting you all week when you're supposed to be focusing on your classes."

"Yes sir," Blaine conceded quietly.

"Which is part of the reason I called Dani. I suspected you'd been feeling bad about all this for awhile, or at least feeling stressed about trying to cover your tracks lest I find out. You've wasted enough time beating yourself up about this and no good would come of prolonging that. If this were a smaller infraction, I would worry less about waiting or just tell you no more video games for a couple days or something. But you chose to break some pretty important rules here, whatever your reasons. I'm going to discipline you, probably about how you expect, but I decided Rachel was right that it would be cruel to make you wait for it."

Blaine felt butterflies in his stomach. "I understand, sir," he mumbled, trying to catch hold of his nerves.


	32. Chapter 32

It was silent for a moment and then Kurt took a breath and reached down to his schoolbag. Blaine eyed him with curiosity and then with chagrin as he saw him pull a small wooden spoon out and place it on the sofa between them.

"Y-you—" Blaine stammered, a little shocked. "You went all the way back to Bushwick f-for—?"

"No," Kurt interrupted. "I bought this at the store around the corner. I didn't know if Mercedes even had one, but either way, I'd been thinking we probably need to keep one here somewhere anyhow. Not just for me to—use it. You should have it, where you see it here every now and then. As a reminder."

Blaine looked forward, uncomfortable. "Because I can't be trusted," he murmured ruefully.

"No, Blaine—" Kurt said, concern in his voice now. "Even if I get upset with you sometimes, you have to know that—all of this—is always just about trying to support you being your best self. Helping you avoid the kinds of choices that leave you feeling badly about yourself. You know that. I got it because this way you can't tell yourself it isn't a possibility here, or forget the consequences you have coming if you make certain choices."

Blaine made a face. "I guess I probably knew a spanking with the spoon could be coming this weekend, I just didn't want to think about it very much."

"No, I'd imagine not," Kurt said plainly.

"I was just kind of pinning my hopes on you maybe being…more lenient," Blaine confessed.

"Well. Maybe if you hadn't persisted in dishonesty, young man, I could have been," Kurt scolded pointedly.

Blaine looked at the floor, sheepish.

"Was there ever any question I'd feel this sort of offense would call for a bottom warming?" Kurt pressed.

"No, sir." Blaine admitted.

"Right. And Rachel pled your case pretty well too, so like I said I decided it wasn't fair to make you wait for days. But thought about it and realized I've taken the spoon to your backside for lesser fibs than this before, and you know it. I'm not going to go backwards with the standards I hold for you. And I do promise I've taken into consideration my part in this, so I'm not going to go overboard by any means. It's not going to be like you robbed a bank or something, but I'm afraid a little hand spanking alone isn't going to cut it this time."

Blaine shrunk into himself a bit, holding his tongue. A piece of him wanted to argue and defend himself but he couldn't honestly say that Kurt was being anything but consistent. There were only a few offences that drove Kurt to bring out implements at all, particularly with Blaine. Rachel was more inclined to try to get away with the same transgression multiple times, or to pitch a fit when informed that consequences were coming and shoot herself in the foot by having the audacity to act so bratty about it that Kurt felt he needed to up the ante with the hairbrush on general principle. Blaine rarely pushed back directly on Kurt's authority when it came down to it, and took pains not to earn increased discipline for repeat offences when he could help it. So on the rare occasions he got a spanking with a spoon at all, it was almost always related to dishonesty or safety considerations that Kurt deemed non-negotiable. Blaine didn't like it, but he couldn't truthfully say he was surprised.

"You have something to say?" Kurt pressed.

"I'm sorry I disobeyed you and then lied about it, sir," Blaine pushed himself to say.

"I would hope so. Now, young man," Kurt added, "I expect you to go stand over there and think about how you might have avoided these consequences," he said, pointing to a corner of the living room.

Blaine grimaced, quickly receiving a reproachful look from Kurt in reply. "Yes, sir," he quickly muttered, miserably pushing himself to his feet, resigned, and heading over to the corner. The thought of Kurt lighting a mini-fire across his bottom soon was not pleasant, but having to stare at the wall as a precursor to that added a childish humiliation to the mix Blaine had a particular distaste for. Kurt didn't always make him do that when he was in trouble, and Blaine nearly always felt like it was overkill because by the time he was sentenced to the corner he already felt pretty sorry for whatever he'd done. But after all the time they'd had this arrangement, he knew better than to debate the nuances of his discipline at a time like this.

The other reason Blaine wasn't particularly fond of having to stand in a corner is that he wasn't terribly good at it. Not a minute into standing there he was shifting from one foot to another, impatient. He knew better than to whine or complain from the corner, but his fingers tapped impatiently against each other, grousing in their own way. He knew he would soon be over Kurt's knee, likely getting a spanking that would result in tears in addition to a red backside. When it was just Kurt's hand he cried roughly half the time at least a little, but any more than a couple swats of the spoon was a virtual guarantee he'd be weeping by the end of a punishment. His bottom flexed just thinking about the sharp sting the spoon could bring. It was nerve-racking knowing it was coming, and knowing he'd probably fight the sobs because it always felt embarrassing at first, even if it was expected. _If I could just focus and get through it and not end up a puddle of crying that'd be cool. Ugh. Kurt. Come on._ It was weird wanting his corner time to speed up while at the same time not particularly wanting to face the music of the good old-fashioned spanking he had coming. He really wished he'd behaved and tried to go to his class on Saturday in the first place like he'd been supposed to.

"Is there a problem, Blaine?" came Kurt's voice in his ear suddenly.

"N-no, sir," Blaine stammered back.

"Well it seems like you're having trouble standing still in the corner. I

thought that was a pretty basic expectation for you to meet."  
Blaine's throat felt dry. "Um—I'm sorry, sir, I didn't mean—I was just—" Blaine stuttered, trying to come up with a defense.

"You're just scattered, let's see if this helps you focus," Kurt interrupted, abruptly pulling Blaine's sweatpants and underwear to his knees.

Blaine gasped and tensed, expecting to feel a punishing swat to his bottom as he stood there, but it did not come.

"Three minutes. You think you can stand here for three minutes now without fidgeting around?" Kurt asked, low.

"…yessir," Blaine whispered, his bare bottom now feeling on display and vulnerable. "I'll do as you expect," he added meekly.

"See that you do."


	33. Chapter 33

Blaine's breathing was shallower as he determined not to misstep this time. He felt smaller, vulnerable. This was always sort of embarrassing, which he supposed was a bit the point. But they'd never done this in his new place, where theoretically Sam and Mercedes could burst through the door at any time. He knew that Kurt would never take a risk like that; he surely went out of his way to make sure there was no way they were going to be getting back home anytime soon. But it felt different than in the loft somehow.

His gaze fixed on the wallpaper, eyeing a crack in it he'd never noticed before. He imagined Kurt, settled on the sofa behind him, watching the clock as he stood there with his bare bottom on display. He wondered what he was thinking. He remembered how Kurt had said he was being childish on Saturday and how offended he'd been at that. But he had to admit that he had been sort of childish in the end after all. Now of course, per their arrangement, he was feeling very much like a child.

Still, he felt oddly calmer now somehow. He remembered all the anxiety he'd felt, worrying about Kurt finding out, and the guilt he'd carried all these days. Here, at least, he knew what to expect, more or less. It seemed like Kurt had thought it through, and that he wasn't mad anymore, just stern. _He doesn't hate me at least. He's not going to go easy, but he said he wouldn't go overboard. It's never been more than I deserved, and it's not like it's the first time. Been here before, probably will be again I suppose._

Kurt cleared his throat. "Okay, time to come here, young man," he said quietly.

Submissive, Blaine turned and toddled forward, not having any permission to pull his clothes back up and not expecting to get it. He felt obliged, oddly, to modestly cover his front, even though it was his backside he probably should be more concerned about, and obviously Kurt was quite familiar with how he looked naked. His eyes blinked at a wetness, unwilling to let tears flow already.

"What was that like?" Kurt inquired.

Blaine didn't expect the question. "…humbling," he answered honestly.

Kurt nodded. "Practicing doing as your told in the small things is likely to help you to do what your told in the larger things," he advised.

Blaine didn't know if that was true or not, but he nodded. "Yes, sir," he whispered, still trying to keep those tears in place.

"We agreed you would keep up with your app and the class on Saturday for your own good, did we not?" Kurt asked.

"Yes, sir," Blaine agreed automatically.

"And in the loft Saturday morning I recall being extremely clear that I expected you to go straight to your class."

"Y-you were sir."

"And beyond that, has there ever been any question about how I feel about sneaking around or dishonesty?"

Blaine squirmed uncomfortably as he felt his shame envelop him.

"Has there?" Kurt pressed.

"No, sir," Blaine conceded.

"Then it should be no surprise to you that you've earned good spanking, young man. I'm going to warm that bottom up with my hand for these indiscretions and then you will be spanked with the spoon as well as a reminder of your obligation to be honest with me."

Blaine's face contorted miserably. "I know, sir. I'm sorry," he added.

"Here, then," Kurt ordered, indicating his lap.

Blaine hesitated a moment, and then hated himself for his hesitation. _Just do it. Get it over with._ He'd certainly been over Kurt's knee enough times to know what to do, but somehow he suspected no one really just bends over a knee easily most of the time. _Certainly not Rachel…_

"Is there a problem?" Kurt asked, stern.

"I—n-no sir," Blaine stuttered, swallowing. "Just nervous I guess?" Blaine confessed, embarrassed.

Kurt nodded and reached a hand out to Blaine, who took it. Kurt led Blaine over his knee.

"However you're feeling, you're expected to obey, young man," Kurt scolded lightly as he adjusted Blaine forward.

"Y-essir," Blaine muttered, intensely aware of his vulnerability now.

Kurt, not wasting time, responded with a quick SMACK to the bottom across his knee.  
Blaine winced.

"We've discussed that I mishandled some things when I was sick. You were upset, and understandably so. But your responsibilities don't change based on how you happen to feel."

"Yes sir. I should have gone to class, I'm sorryyy—ow-OW-" Blaine was startled as a series of fast swats flurried down on his bottom suddenly. He closed his eyes, trying to focus and ignore the sting somehow.

"You always have the choice to meet expectation or not, young man. But if you don't meet expectation you're going to be disciplined," Kurt pronounced, aiming a hard SMACK to Blaine's sit spots that elicited a whimper.

"I imagine you thought it would feel good to blow off you class. Does this feel good?" Kurt asked, laying a steady rain of sting to Blaine's bottom as he spoke.

Blaine's breath stuttered, the warmth on his backside increasing. "N-n-no, sir," he confessed, with as much dignity as he could muster.

"It hurts?"

"Yessir," Blaine whined.

Kurt spanked both cheeks in response, and Blaine writhed, startled. "Good. It's meant to. You knew better, young man." Kurt continued to spank Blaine, and Blaine felt the tears finally tumble from his eyes as he groaned at the sense of not being able to escape. It was often like this, where Blaine tried to be stoic early on but broke down as the spanking continued. It wasn't that Kurt was spanking any harder than he had at the beginning, but the cumulative sting was hard to ignore and as Blaine tired he started to feel more and more helpless to the onslaught.

"Sirrrr, I'm s-s-orrryyy," he begged tearfully.

Kurt stopped, stern. "You better be, young man. If Amy hadn't revealed your ruse you might still be keeping these shenanigans from me, so I can't say that I've got a lot of sympathy right now. You knew what the consequences for these kinds of choices were."

Kurt picked up, the spoon and tapped Blaine's bottom with it lightly. Blaine, having now lost any pretense of holding it together, cried into the sofa, feeling sorry for himself. Kurt lifted the spoon and SWATted it back and forth three or four times, quickly eliciting a teary nonsensical apology and a twisting fiancé, struggling as though ready to swim right off his lap. Kurt paused, holding Blaine tighter in place. "When you know better, I expect you to do better, young man," he scolded when Blaine's whining quieted.

"Yesssirrr," Blaine murmured in misery.

"I don't like having to punish you, but you are in control of your behavior."  
"Yessir," Blaine cried.

"There's always opportunities to get away with things, especially now that we're not living together. If you don't enjoy the bite of a wooden spoon across your backside you'll need to make better choices at the next opportunity," Kurt lectured.

"I-I wiiiilll sirrr," Blaine sniffled.

Kurt landed another SWAT to Blaine's sit spots, causing Blaine's legs to kick for a moment. Examining Blaine's backside, Kurt sighed and then dropped the spoon. Blaine's bottom was red, certainly redder than it generally got from a hand spanking alone. But it did not look bruised, and while he had no reservations about leaving Blaine with a painful reminder for the evening, he did not want him to be feeling it in classes the next day. Over time he'd learned to be able to judge what amount of time and harshness would make the appropriate impact. Blaine was clearly sorry. It was time to be done.

Blaine sniffled into the sofa remorsefully as Kurt rubbed his back for a moment. His tail felt hot, but no amount of squirming would shake that feeling right now, and he knew it. He had a familiar feeling he often got after he was disciplined, of wanting to be so perfect going forward that his behavior wouldn't ever merit this again. He lay, exhausted and chastised, hoping at the least it was the last time he'd earn a visit from that spoon for a long while. _Lying just isn't worth it. Why don't I remember that when it matters? Ugh._


	34. Chapter 34

Kurt tapped gently at Blaine's back. "Come on, you're going to be okay," he soothed, helping his fiancé hobble up and pulling up his sweats. Blaine was felt disoriented, adjusting his balance to standing as he felt the soft cotton slip back over his hot backside, which he promptly grabbed with both hands and a scowl, twisting and rubbing in a sort of strange and useless dance for a moment. Kurt observed without comment.

"Ughhhhh…" Blaine groaned with a miserable sniffle wiping his arm across his teary snotty face like a preschooler.

After a moment, Kurt spoke quietly, "You've eaten and done your homework you said?"

Blaine squinted, as though he had to work a little harder to see into his brain the answer to normal questions right now. "…Y-yes I have, sir."

"Good. You're going to be tired after all this, you always are," he commented. Then he stood, grabbing the spoon with one hand, and Blaine's hand with the other. "Come on, let's go get your teeth brushed," he said, no-nonsense.

Blaine let himself be led, trying to lean in towards whatever Kurt wanted of him at the moment but highly distracted by the hot sting across his bottom and the very top of his legs, which seemed to sear a little hotter with each little movement as he forced his feet forward. A salty tear slid down his sticky feeling face. _Not done crying yet, I guess… owwww._

As they got to the top of the stairs Kurt gave Blaine a reproachful look. Blaine stiffened and looked, seeing the laundry basket still there.

"Oh. It's Sam's. I forgot when you…" Blaine stuttered and trailed off, trying to put his thoughts back into the right order for sentence formation.

"You're doing Sam's laundry?" Kurt asked.

"N-no—I mean—" Blaine stopped himself, trying to make sure he was being as honest as possible. "He just asked me to put it away, just this once," Blaine explained, quickly picking up the basket to leave it outside Sam and Mercedes' bedroom door.

Kurt nodded. "Sweetheart, it's okay. Even if I did have a problem with it, it's not really my business. I was just surprised. Come on," he added gesturing his head towards the bathroom.

Blaine took a moment to sneak his hands back to his bottom as he followed, vainly trying to rub away the gnawing ache. Sighing, he gave up and went into the bathroom, obediently taking out his toothbrush and brushing his teeth. It did seem to help a bit to have a task—anything for a distraction. When he finished, Kurt wet a washcloth with warm water and handed it to him. He washed the sticky-feeling off of his face.

When he finished, Kurt turned off the light and put a hand on Blaine's back, leading him to his room. They entered the bedroom and Kurt went to the drawer where he knew Blaine kept pajamas and pulled out some loose shorts and an undershirt. He handed them to Blaine. As Blaine obediently changed, something gnawed at Kurt until he spoke up.

"I'm sorry if I sounded critical there," Kurt said. "I only even probably noticed because Rachel—"

"Oh, I know," Blaine interrupted.

Kurt sighed. "She took advantage more than once, probably still will try sometimes on the weekends."

Blaine grinned. "Of course she will.

But with Sam- I probably should be more careful not to overstep on telling you how to deal with him. It's not healthy for everything you do to be under a microscope." Kurt said.

Blaine shook his head. "You just worry about me, I get it. I mean, unless he talks me into playing Coaster Tycoon late into the night during finals or something."

Kurt smiled. "It's a very strange balance sometimes of taking care of… your inner child or something in some way… and then also trying to give you the space to… be you and grow here in this new chapter of life."

Blaine nodded. "You're… doing alright," he said quietly.

"You're sure?"

"There was never a road map for anything with us—we'll figure it out. And I know I can always say hold on and we can talk about it. Or I can call Rachel and get her to yell at you," he grinned.

Kurt rolled his eyes. "True."

"Will you stay?" Blaine asked shyly.

Kurt hesitated. It made sense. He just hadn't thought of sleeping over originally.

"Do you want me to?"

"I always do," Blaine said plainly. "I've got your emergency clothes and toothbrush in the closet."

When Blaine and Sam had moved in the understanding was Blaine would live here during the week but Kurt had left a small package of clothes in a bag in case the occasional date night out went late. Sam was closer to his size than Blaine in some ways and had made a well-meaning comment that he would be happy to lend him something anytime and Kurt had realized with urgency that showing up in NYADA with Sam's limited fashion sense on display was simply out of the question.

"Okay, as long as I can use your sunscreen in the morning. I'm not risking—"

"Shit. I didn't moisturize—"

"Eh. I guess one night won't kill us. It's been a long day for both of us. We should just relax."

"Okay." Then Blaine hesitated, "I um, I also didn't do my abs workout yet," he confessed.

Kurt smiled a gentle smile. "I'm not a monster, I'm not going to make you do sit ups after I just tanned your hide."

Blaine breathed a sigh of relief at that.

"Speaking of which, I almost forgot," Kurt said, holding up the wooden spoon. "This is yours now."

Blaine straightened up. "Do I have to… display it?" he asked timidly.

"Not out in the open on the wall or anything. I know that would be awkward to explain to Sam if he was in here or anything. In a drawer where you'll see it regularly is fine." Kurt put on a sterner tone. "It will be a good reminder."

"Yes sir," Blaine responded automatically, taking it gingerly in his hand. It seemed smaller somehow holding it. With his bottom still throbbing he didn't particularly think he was going to be forgetting it's existence anytime soon, but the notion of it being in his sight having even the slightest chance of helping him to avoid earning it in the future sounded sort of nice. "Rachel keeps her hairbrush in the bathroom mostly, you think it helps her?" he asked.

Kurt rolled his eyes. "Honestly, I shudder to think how much more naughtiness she'd try to get away with without the constant reminder."

Blaine smiled a little at that. "I keep pencils for my homework here," Blaine said, opening up the little drawer to the desk in the corner of his room and placing it, almost reverently there.

"Good," Kurt responded.

Blaine rubbed his eyes and Kurt smiled.

"What?" Blaine asked.

"I told you you'd be sleepy," Kurt teased. "Still sore?"

Blaine made a face.

"That bad huh?"

Blaine grunted, crawling gingerly up onto his bed and rolling over on to his stomach.

Kurt nodded, sympathetic. "It's probably going to for a while," he said gently.

"Not exactly making me feel better," Blaine whined.

"Hmm, well, sometimes that's just not my job," Kurt softly admonished, sitting on the bed next to his fiancé.

There was a pause, and then a quiet, "Yes, sir."

Kurt rubbed Blaine's back in response. "You know I wouldn't have spanked you with the spoon if I didn't hope you'd be reminded of your behavior a little longer than usual, you know," he added, letting his hand linger down to tap Blaine's bottom a moment.

"…I know, sir," Blaine whispered.

"But my point was," Kurt continued, bringing his hand back up to his fiancés back and massaging in a soft circular motion, "that given that reality, it's probably for the best you don't have anything else going on tonight."

"I'm really sorry I lied and everything Kurt…"

"I know," Kurt soothed. "You'll do better next time."

There was a pause. "…I guess… it was, um…" Blaine hesitated.

"What?" Kurt encouraged.

"It was pretty red this time?" Blaine mumbled out, embarrassed.

Kurt nodded. "Yes. Not the worst you've ever earned though. Red, but not super bruised or anything. If I was worried I'd say we should put some Arnica gel on it, but I think you'll be fine. It'll likely feel better, or at least mostly better, in the morning."

Blaine sighed, his lower half squirming a bit, trying to relax.

"I suppose that's good. I have enough self-esteem issues around my body without worrying about my backside looking beat up."

"Your body's fine. And your backside is as sexy as it ever was."

"I guess I'll have to take your word for it."

"You need anything? You thirsty?" Kurt asked.

"No," Blaine said, "But… I'm glad you're here."

Kurt smiled. "Me too. I like having my space more in the loft, but it is a little weird at night when you're not in my bed sometimes."

"Usually if you were staying over we'd be—messing around by now."

"Yeah. I wasn't imagining you'd be exactly up for that tonight."

"I mean, if you really wanted—" Blaine started, pulling his hands up to his sides to push himself up.

"Shh," Kurt hushed. "Take it easy, okay? I'm fine. Let's take care of you now. You can have your way with me any day."

Blaine let himself let go at that. He eased back against the mattress. "Any day?" he asked, sly and lazy.

"Always."

It was quiet a long while as Kurt continued to rub Blaine's back. The sting across Blaine's backside was still there, dull—but not so bad like this when he wasn't walking or moving around.

"It's still early. We could watch something on TV," Blaine suggested absently after a minute.

"Hmm-hmm. We could." Kurt said, swallowing a smile as Blaine yawned. He watched lovingly as the eyelids fluttered a bit, his fiancés breathing slower and deeper as he drifted off.


End file.
